Integrate
by Chiharu-Chan
Summary: SKPoTCrossover. Hao, against his better judgement, is being converted into a tennis player. Insane school jocks, absurd popularity crowd. The Tennis Team is plotting a conspiracy to end all sanity.HaoMacchi, MariNichrome, YohAnna, OCs. DISCONTINUED
1. Tennis

The boy took one look at the building, immediately grinning to himself. Keery Tucker High, one of the most honorable high schools overflown by the asian community. He hadn't wanted to transfer in the first place, leaving behind his team.

It was his team, his pride and soul. Maybe it wasn't something he committed much to, but he had honestly loved to play soccer. It was where he could prove himself, show that he was skilled and causes; although, he didn't really much trouble with that.

Asakura Hao brushed a strange of bangs from his eye, walking onto the step of his new high school.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King, this was inspired by the fanfic "Smell like Team Spirit".

**Integrate**

By: Kitori Chiharu

Chapter one

Dedicated to my favorite jock. Thanks for getting me into tennis, Danny!

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School was, ineffecient, by chance. There was not much eye-catching moments, nor anything that caught his attention by far. The boy had heavily resisted the thought of listening in class; his new classmates thought the same. Most of them were hanging around, listening to their headphones while chatting over the teacher. 

It was amusing at first, yes. He had just transfered from the school with the most rules to one with the less. People laughed, joked, even slept during lectures; although, he couldn't blaim them much. 

It wasn't till after the last period, he had slowly wondered into the main office. As politely as he could, the boy had asked for a tour guide through the campus. After all; he still need to relocate the soccer team. 

"Nora, show him the fields." The officer smiled, gesturing for the girl to come out of the counter. She smiled weakly, watching as the director left the office. 

Hao gave her a silent look, scanning the girl over. Even with her light amber hair and honey brown eyes, she still had the distinct trades of Asian. "I told him my name was Nyorai, but he had never managed to pronounce it, so they all just settled with calling me Nora." She quickly explained, reading his mind. 

"How rude." Hao grinned. "You'd think with all the asians in this school, they'd get used to it. I guess racism can be rather bland." 

"Hai, but this is still California." Nyorai smiled, leading him out through the door. "It's okay because... Life as it is, we're all racist, so it doesn't really matter." 

He nodded, following him down the side walk. "How did you know I was japanese?" 

"We have many boys here, and most of them do not bother to grow their hair out. You can tell because the american culture has already influenced them enough, but you have such long hair." The girl explained, Hao took a silent notice of her simple yet proper grammar use. 

He kept quite after that, following her throughout the campus. It was rather beautiful, really. Different types of trees were planted along the sidewalk, leading each towered building into another. 

"Kerry High is a very wonderful school." Nyorai spoke up, trailing her hand along the bars of the sidewalk. "We might not have longest history, but the community is very...." She paused, looking for the word. 

"Friendly?" He suggested. 

Nyorai chuckled silently. "Yes, but we're much more than that. The teachers call us a circus, but that's really because we're familiar with the setting. Anyway, what sport do you play?" 

"Soccer." He grinned, a sudden proud feeling washing over. 

"Oh." She suddenly stopped, turning around. "You play... Soccer." 

"Uh, yeah." He blinked. 

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but we do not have a soccer team." A unfamiliar boy came up to Nyorai, taking a stare at Hao. 

His eyes widened, staring at the two. "You've got to be kidding me, right? I only moved to this stupid place for an education, if there's no soccer team, what's the point?" 

"Touche." The boy snorted, folding his arm together. "Join another team, then. We offer 16 different teams here, it's not that hard to switch professions." 

"_Nichrome_." Nyorai warned, voice low. "Don't be rude." 

"Right, student policy." Nichrome rolled his eyes, focusing a look at Hao. "New here? Most people would know we have no soccer team. Of course, I can't guarantee that for everyone." 

"Yes, I'm new. Are you blind?" Hao depended, not bothering to explain his first day. He could already tell from his name, the boy was japanese as well. "What do you play?" 

A small smirk appeared on Nichrome's face, tugging at the end of his mouth. "Tennis, I'm the captain." 

"Tennis is for losers." He simply stated. Since when had tennis become an official sport, he did not know. Where he came from, no body cared to pay attention to the racquet sport. He could clearly see why. 

"Excuse you, but did I just hear you diss tennis?" A red head bounced into the view, hand grasping onto a orange tennis racquet. Her dark purple eyes shined, reflecting her tanned skin. One look at her squat, one already knew she was another tennis player. 

"He obviously does not know about the team, then." Nichrome turned to the girl, smirking while ignoring Hao. "Anyone sane would know that we have the best Tennis program in the state. Of course, you can already tell he's not the sporty type. Go back to being queer, man." 

"Nichrome!" Nyorai gasped. "That's not very polite..." 

Hao mentally growled, pulling onto his long hair. How dare this guy insult his hair? He can diss him all he want, but no one was allowed to insult his hair. 

"Um..." The red-head paused, blinking at Hao. "I don't know, Nic-chan. I kind of like his hair, it's very kawaii." 

Another japanese, he noted. "Fine, then what sports are there? Besides Tennis, of course." 

"Well." The girl folded her arm together, tapping her chin. "There's Basketball, Hockey, Football, wrestling, Track, Softball, H-" 

"Don't bother, Macchi." Nichrome cut in. "The guy wouldn't know anything, he'd probably end up as one of the outcasts." With that said, he walked away from the others, lifting an arm up for goodbye. 

The three paused. 

"Please excuse Nichrome, Asakura-kun. He's just like that, but please don't be mad." Nyorai explained, smiling softly at Hao. "He's not always moody, he's just being..." 

"Bitter." Macchi laughed, grinning. She turned to Hao, extending her hand out. "I'm Macchi, captain of the girls' Tennis Team. And although you have no sense in what's cool, nice to meet you." 

Hao stared down at her hand, silently shaking it before withdrawing. "Hao." 

"If you haven't decided for a team yet, I suggest you do it soon. This week is the last cuts for tryouts, you have to do something for remain a loser." Macchi laughed. "95 of our school plays a sport, just so you would know." 

"Well, I'm defiantly not playing tennis then." 

"You're a man of big words." Macchi folded her arm, grinning at Nyorai. "Ny-chan, you remember that's exactly what Nic-chan said the first time, right?" 

"Yes, and now look at him; captain of the Tennis team." Nyorai beamed in return, smiling softly at Hao. "I'm sure that might seem off and pointless, but we're probably the only school in the state that think so highly of sports as well as acedemics." 

Hao kept quite, slowly wondering about the two. Maybe, maybe it was normal to them, but he defiantly wasn't the kind of person to do that. He's a soccer guy, period. 

"You're not very friendly, are you?" Macchi said, picking up her racquet. "Anyways, just follow me." 

She nearly skipped, bounced onto the tennis courts on the right as Hao followed nimbly. 

There were two dozen people on the court, sitting down in a circle. All of them were carrying some sort of racquet with them, dressed in Tennis clothing. About half of them were girls, the others were boys. 

"Okay, people." Macchi clapped her hands together, walking into the center of the crowd. "First order of business, we have another non-believer." She turned to face Hao. 

He could could all of their glazes on him, quietly staring with aw. The girls offered him a few smiles, but nothing more. The boy barely paid any attention to him. True, he wasn't used to girls that were not attracted to him, but it didn't matter much to him anyway. 

"Magma nearly broke my racket!" Lily spoke up, waving her hands in the air. "I demand he be punished severely for that, right Cap?" 

Nichrome rolled his eyes, walking up next to Macchi. He folded his arms together, turquoise eyes halting. "Magma, this is a tennis court, not a dating Sim. Flirt later." 

The rest of the crowd laughed, one of the boys playfully punched Magma in the arm. 

"Oh! Tell the school to supply bottled water for our games." A brown haired girl spoke up, pulling her knees in. "Tap water does not do my voice any justice!" 

"Stop being picky, Mannoko!" Pilica laughed. "We don't want to sound like hypocrites." 

Nichrome smirked. "I hope not, we're complaining about different types of water here. Anyways, like I said, this is a tennis court. If you care so much, join the choir group. But you're on the Tennis Team, so the only bottle water you're getting is from the vending machine." 

"Ah!" Mannoko pouted, seated next to her racket. "That's just wrong, Cap. You're disregarding our concerns, that's very important to the team, right?" She turned to her brother for support. 

Instead, Manta just laughed, closing the lid onto his laptop. "Tap water and bottle water are the same, sis. If it comes out of a filter from the sink, its the same as bottled away after the filter. So there's not much difference." 

"How can you tell?" Lily blinked. "Don't water like, taste the same?" 

"My point exactly." Macchi shot Nichrome a smirk. "So you should've just saved the argument and pretended it was really bottled water." 

"Excuse me." Mannoko gasped offhandedly. "You think I can't tell the difference between tap and mineral water? That is so rude!" She laughed. 

"Oh, stuff it." Nichrome grinned. 

"I think we should extend practice hours." Another boy suggested. "That way, we can miss more hours of school. It's like they don't appreciate us for state champions. They act like we're just a JV team." 

"That's because we _are_ a JV team, Redseb." Macchi smirked. "If only we can keep the team up with their test score, the world would be a happy place to be." 

"With rainbows and butterflies-" Mannoko intercepted, clapping her hands together. "Where tennis players do not have to deal with unsanitary tap water and-" 

"_We're not going into that again!_" Lina rolled her eyes, sighing. 

"Oh, be quite already!" Zria groaned. "You are such a pain, Cap." 

"Oh, you be quite, witch!" 

"Be careful, Nic-chan!" Macchi laughed, waving her fingers. "She might use her evil witchy powers on you! MWAHA!" 

"And us?" One of the twin girls poke up. 

"Do we-" 

"Count as one of-" 

"The witches?" 

"Lip, Rap, you've got to stop that whole phrase thing." Kanna sighed, twirling around with her racket. "It's freaking me already. And that's said, Freshmen scaring the shit' out of Seniors." 

"Hey, hey!" Pilica laughed. "We'd like to keep this team G-rated, please! No cussing in front of the poor, innocent, unsuspected, loser freshmen people. Thank you!" 

"Weren't you a freshmen last year too?" Seyriam spoke up, her soft voice blending into the nosy view of the crowd. "We're not that bad, the freshmen are keeping the team together." 

"No, more like keeping the team's snacking schedule. Where's our snack, anyway." HaiRuwo leaned up onto the ground, groaning. 

"Why do freshmen have to bring the snacks again?" Redseb growled. "That's unfair. In fact, that's more than unfair! It's child labor! That's against the law!" He gasped in a horrid manner, laughing. 

"Keep it down!" Zria argued back, being one of the seniors. "We had to do the same in our first year too, so shut it! God, you little rats are seriously getting on my nerves...." 

"I don't mind bring snacks, though." Seyriam explained, smiling softly while the rest of the team gasped on. 

"Seyriam, you're seriously earning brownie points here!" Zria laughed. "If only your brother would be as corporation, then we couldn't be having this conversation in the first place. Right, brat?" 

"Cap, the witchy lady is being mean to me again!" Redseb screamed, laughing halfway while chocking on the words. 

"Yes, and behold my witchy powers!" Zria yelled, waving her racket in the air playfully. 

"SILENCE!" 

Everyone paused, looking at Nichrome. 

"Yes, Captain?" They chorused in perfect harmony, it was chilling Hao out. 

"Hey, cage the rage, man." Macchi smirked, tapping her shoes on the cement ground. "Anyways, before I was so rudely interrupted, we were talking about our Season. The orders are already set. So no, don't ask us to change the line up. Secondly, we have a tennis hater here." 

Everyone turned back to Hao, who was forgotten for the time being. 

"Boo!" Everyone started throughing non-exhausting paper at him. Gum rapers, paper air planes, rubber lits. 

"People!" Macchi yelled. "Can we please respect the economy? I don't care if you throw stuff at the new guy, but you're littering our environment! What the heck-" 

"Redseb!" Kanna ordered. "Stop throwing napkins at the Fabio wannabe! Where did you get that anyway?" 

"From the cafeteria. They're hiding it with all the spoon and forks, did you know the lunch ladies are conspiring a plan against normal eating habits?" The said boy grimaced. "It's so controversial." 

"Wow, that might explain why the bathrooms are out of toilet paper." Magma laughed. 

"Ew!" Pilica shrieked. "TMI, TMI!" 

"What's that mean?" Lina blinked. 

"Too much information!" Lip and Rap chorused, learning a freakish look from Lily. 

"And this team gets weirder by day." Kanna sighed, puffing on her cigarette while folding her arms, laughing at the scene in front of her. Mannoko was chasing Manta down with her racket. 

"Alright, all of you!" Nichrome clapped his lands together, shooting the rest of the team a look. "Dismissed, you warm up and run some drills. Don't forget, the track's reserved for the Football team right now. So lucky today, no running. Now shoot." 

The rest of the team grinned, obviously happy they didn't have to run. They all flown back onto the courts, each spearted by metal fences. The boys immediately claim half of the courts, starting games of doubles while some of the girls sat out. 

All in all, they were a corporation team. 

"Anyways, if you don't want to play Tennis, fine." Macchi turned to Hao, silently crossing her arm. "But just pick a sport, and play it. Because I'm sure you're a cool soccer player, but it never hurt to try something new." She tilted her head sideways, orange bangs fallen onto her lilic eyes. "Right?" 

"Right." He silently paused, wondering if there was more to the conversation. Apperantly; no. He was ready to leave when another sight caught his attention, making him come to a sudden halt. 

A blond girl in pigtails ran up to them, her crystal green eyes stiring. "Macchi-chan! Mari is late!" 

Hao momentarily wondered who she was talking about, blinking. The girl was cute, he had to admit. Her soft pastel skin reflected back at him, seemingly glowing. 

"'S okay, Mari." The redhead replied smoothly, grinning. "Just go warm up with Nic-chan." 

The blond nodded, running out into the Tennis Courts. Hao silently wondered if this could be the highlight of his day. A girl, he almost snorted, could make him feel better by just smiling at him? He was getting soft, Hao concluded. 

"Anyways, the other fields are around; you need a tour guide?" 

It took him a second to realize the girl was semi hitting on him, just a little bit. "Not really." 

Macchi shrugged. "Whatever." 

Nichrome walked up to them, raising an eyebrow. "And just for a point of advice, I wouldn't go off dissing the team is I were you. It's just not right, we're factor of this school. I don't care which sport you play, but athletes don't diss each other off. I don't care where you come from, but if you're trying to earn enemies here, you're defiantly doing a good job. Kerry High is a good school, leave your street manners somewhere else." 

"Whatever." 

"Giving off the speech again?" Macchi grinned at Nichrome. "They work on unsuspecting freshmen." She turned toward Hao, scanning him over. "What grade are you in?" 

"I'm a junior." He deadpinned, already losing interest in the conversation. 

Nichrome ignored him. With a wave of his arm, he past by Macchi and onto the court. "Later, I have to help Marion work on her backhand. She's too stiff on returning lobs." With that said, he walked away from them. 

"_'I have to help Marion with her backhand'_." Macchi mimicked, rolling her eyes. She tapped her foot in a pattern, turning toward Hao. 

"Was Mari the blond?" He asked, unable to help himself. 

She raised an eyebrow in amused. "That, was Marion Phoeba. My cute and sassy cousin. Why? Intersted in her?" 

"Maybe." 

"Well, don't be." Macchi declared, setting her racquet down. "She's Nichrome's girl. I have dedicated three year of life in trying to hook them up. Don't think you can just waltz right in and take her by the arm." She frowned. "Even if Nichrome's a little slow on taking a move." 

"Right." He smirked. 

The two paused. 

"Well, guess I'm off to find a sport." 

"Have fun." Her voice was practically dripping with sarcism. The team was crazy, he had to admit. Nevertheless, they were very well organized and all had connections with each other. If his soccer team had their unison, they might have won even more trophies. No matter, he didn't have the time to wonder about informalities. 

After all, he had a mission. He was going to make the School Board approve of a soccer team. And Mari was going to be his. 

------**TBC**-------- 

Well, a lot of character introduction here. Most of them only appears in the manga. Yes, I'm well aware that most of these people are either younger or older than Hao's age group. But this is AU, so what the heck. 

Zria is from Team Iceman. Mari, Macchi, and Kanna are the Hanagumi. Nichrome is the tenth priest of Patch. After sticking with me for so long, everyone knows that. Manako is Manta's bratty little sister, but I like her, so beat it. >. Okay, I finally realized that I would burn all of my favorite MP3s onto a CD, because I have this wonderful program on my computer. So now, I'm obessed with doing that. Apperantly, since its my first time, some of my tracks got strached up. >. Review please? 

Chiharu 


	2. Plus Insanity

I think, think, I should update now. Or anytime soon, because I've been delaying my updating duties long enough to deserve a sack of tomatoes being thrown at me.

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Don't own Shaman King or Prince of Tennis 

**Integrate**

Chapter two: Plus Insanity 

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Asakura Hao was.... For the lack of a better word, lost. It was also something remotely annoying to talk about, since he had navigated through schools much larger than Kerry High. But there he was, standing in the middle of the open campus, people chattering on the grassy sloops next to him, looking around for the science department. 

Sure, he had considered asking for help. But that wasn't his style, to say the least. And in the mist of turning right left up corner-down and then another U-turn later, for he had wonderful memory, Hao found himself standing in front of a wooden cased door. It looked like the chamber to a madman's dungeon. 

But that was what science class were designed to be, so he naturally pushed the door open, peaking inside. There was only one person there, sitting cross-legged in the first row, paper laying out in front of her. Hao concluded that she was probably taking a make-up test. 

And in the mist of observation, the girl had looked up at him, offering an annoyed expression. "What?" 

If she wasn't in the mood to be civil, he didn't need to be either. "Where's the science department?" It came out as some sort of a demand. 

The girl had tilted her head, her chestnut brown hair pulled up with green-ribbons. "You're standing in it." 

"Where's the Forensic Science lab?" 

The girl had gone back to working on her test again, head lowered inches from the paper. She was waring a green-on-white screen-tee that perfectly matched her eyes. But her attitude? It need work, _much_ more working on. 

"Hello?" Hao spoke up. 

"I don't like to repeat myself." She barked back, slamming her pencil down. He had thought for a moment that the girl was going to turn on him, or at least try to attack or something. Instead, she walked next to the teacher's desk before laying her test-paper on top. 

"So..." 

The girl sighed, turning to lean back onto the desk. "This is the Forensic Science room. Miss Kane went to the office, but you're early." 

"Then why are you here?" Hao replied, striving to start a conversation whose end he already knew. 

"Social service, had to convert printers into toilet paper." Ah, he didn't expect that one. "No, I had to make-up a test." She quickly added, suspecting that he wasn't getting the joke. "You new?" 

"Maybe." He replied, hand grasping onto his backpack. 

"You're not a man of many words." The girl deduced, sitting on top of her desk. "Everyone in this honor class was in the same group last year, not many people can live down Forensic Science without throwing up. And since I've never really seen you on campus before, I just assumed you were new." Her expression was happy enough, but the voice was semi-bitter. 

"Is there any to point to annualize the story of my life?" It was the only combat he would think of. At the moment. 

"Kids, would you like to continue this argument somewhere more comfortable?" A young women came into the room, hands holding onto a coffee-mug. "As in, somewhere outside of my room?" 

"Sorry, Ms. Kane." The girl raised her hand in defeat. "I just wanted to be the first one to pick on the new kids, s' that okay?" 

"You must be Hao." Ms. Kane turned to him, hand flipping through her pieces of paper. "I just got your record this morning, or a few minutes ago." She handed one to him. 

The paper was a PC print-out. It included factual informations such as his name, address, phone number, parent access, student ID, hair color, length, style, eye hue, height, all of which were neatly stamped next to a recent photo of himself, smirking at the camera. 

The girl had leaned over, reading it over his shoulder. "Damn, weren't those things suppose to be confidential?" 

"Lina." Ms.Kane smiled, settling back behind her desk. "Don't be rude." 

That was when something clicked in the back of Hao's brain, so -that- was where he remembered her from before. The tennis court! She was one of the girls on the field, arguing with... With... What's her name, Macchi. "You're on the tennis team." 

"Ah, it speaks!" The girl exclaimed, voice suddenly happy. "Let's walk and talk." She grabbed him by the air, pulling him out onto the campus after giving Ms.Kane a quick wave. 

He decided not to talk as she dragged him through the many foils of the campus, passing by countless people who just stared at them. A few hours later- no, it was actually seconds, but Hao had voiced not to count- they ended up on the corner next to the room. "So, why are you here?" 

He had paused for a second. "To go to school?" 

"Yes, but why _here_?" She demanded. "I knew you looked familiar, but just remembered your name. Why could the most acclaimed state-soccer player transfer to a school with no soccer team?" 

"You speak so high of me." He leaned back against the wall gratefully. "Okay, forget it." She sighed, leaning back a bit. "I remember you, We played your school in state championship. Vera Strikers, remember?" 

Hao had pause for a second, flipping through the database that is his brain. "You played soccer..." Oh crap, now he remembers. "You're that crazy midfielder that took down half of the girls' team!" He pointed an accusing finger at her. 

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, _please_. Your girls sucked more than our boys. Heck, we won by Seven. I'm sorry, but that was _sad_." 

"Hn." Hao let out somewhat of a significant grunt. She was right though, the boys finished their match just in time to catch her score the 4th goal before half-time. "I thought you looked freakishly familiar. Kuroba Lina, right?" 

"And you're Asakura Hao, captain of the Byrd XS." 

The two fell silence. 

"Soccer props, I didn't know you played." 

"Used to." Lina shrugged. "Actually, I still do. But my main focus now is Tennis, can't get over the new trends. But you gotta agree, the only flaw this school has is its lack of a soccer team." 

"True." Hao silently wondered if they could play a few games on the weekend. It has been so long since he played with someone worthwhile. "You asked me what I was doing here, what about you?" 

"Soccer has its up and downs." The girl raised her hand. "One day you're gonna wake up and think to yourself, 'is there anything else to me than a pair of soccer shoes?' Then you'll do something absurdly brainless, like signing up for a soccer that has no soccer team the next day." 

Why had -he- switch schools? He didn't quite know. Maybe it was the lack of competition at his old environment, or maybe it was his uncanny sense of adventure. 

"Heh." Lina smirked. "Now we're done with the familiarities, I want to know why you think Tennis is so degrading." 

"I don't." Hao replied smoothly. "But it seem so flimsy compared to soccer." 

"Mmmm." The girl rolled her eyes. "Then I guess it's too bad you're not the one playing tennis, then. Although, by your deficiency of guts, I doubt you _could_ play Tennis if you wanted." With a casual flick of her wrist, she was ready to leave. 

"What does _THAT_ mean?" Hao demanded. 

"Fine then, prove me wrong, oh great god of soccer goodness." Lina smirked once more, provoking the unsettled nerves in his brain. "Join the tennis team, then we'll see who's right." 

"No." He replied slowly. "I know you're smart, Striker, and I know what you're doing. But don't think for a second that I would switch professions just because you dared me to." 

"Well, too bad." Lina shrugged. "But my offer still stands, we need people like you on the team. Even if it raises the already abnormally high level of ego you have." She added as an afterthought. 

Hao paused, mumbling something incoherent. 

"What was that?" 

"I'll think about it." 

"Good." Lina smiled, grabbing him by the arm. "Now that's settled, let's go enjoy the unbelievable disgusting education that is Forensic Science!" She practically dragged him back to the room. Hao made a note about the direction to the lab, providing that he would not get lost again. 

When he entered the room, Hao was semi-pleased to discover that five unknown newcomers had already made themselves comfortable. A blue-hair girl jumped up in her seat in the sight of Lina, clapping her hands together before rushing to her. 

"Guess what?" 

Lina paused. "Eh... Macchi decided to quit and let me take over her position, because everyone knows that I deserve it more?" 

"Ah-No." Her friend made an amused face, hair in white headbands. "I was gonna say that Nic decided to extend try-out period for the boys, since he was getting too many weird requests." 

"You wish." A blond boy appeared on the other-side of the girl. "He's just paranoid that I might take his position. Oh, plus the fact that Redseb is trying to woe that girl-what's her face? Ma.. Mana.. Madona something-" 

"He's still at it?" Lina blinked. "I told him that the best way to get the girl was to send her flower." 

"And to rescue her from impossible danger!" Another voice added in, a blue-hair boy that seemed to relate to the girl. Hao blinked, family, maybe? 

"Wow, nii-chan." The blue-haired girl rolled her eyes. "What kind of advice is that?" 

"What? Girls dig that!" 

"No we don't." Lina chorused with her friend, dead-serious. 

"Brain against brains." The blond laughed. "It's a cynically war." 

"Speaking of wars- we almost started one yesterday." Lina cut in, hands on hips while leaning toward the blond boy. "Where were you yesterday? We had practice, remember?" 

"I didn't forget." He raised his hands in defeat. "I just didn't remember until later." 

Lina rolled her eyes, turning toward Hao. "Quick intro. Pilica and Horohoro, Pill's with us, Horo's with the Hockey team. Chiaki's the blond, he's with the boys. Oh, and Pil's Horo's sister, etc." 

"O... Kay." To be honest, that didn't really help much. Of course, Hao wasn't going to be the one to say that to her. 

"How... Persistence of you." Pilica gave Lina a soft nudge. 

"Oh, and that's Hao." The brunette girl quickly added. "He plays soccer." 

"Interesting." Horohoro robbed his jawbone. "That means you'll be free right now. Hockey -could- need someone like you." 

"Hey, stop recruiting the newest member of our posse!" Lina demanded, half-laughing. "Weird, has anyone seen Kevin? Class starts in five, and he's always here early." 

"Ah." Chiaki rubbed his head. "Probably met some insane tennis freak on his way over, forgot all about school, and wagged war by challenging them to a match. Or ten." 

"You know." Pilica smiled. "The possibility of that happening is actually very high. But Kevin is such a control freak, he wouldn't want a dent on the record, right?" 

"Oh not." They were cut in by the newcomer. Hao was enlightened to see the figure of a seven year-old enter the class, hand buried in his overlarge backpack. "He probably just got annoyed of sharing the first class of the day with a bunch of asian people. You know how he hate Japanese-" 

"Come again?" Hao didn't realize those words were slipping out of his mouth. 

"Oh, it's a long story." Lina quickly waved it off. "No big deal. His dad was some famous hot-shot that got defeated by a japanese tennis player which supposedly led to his road of alcoholic destruction and all. Kevin's set to find the son of his arch enemy and defeat him in tennis." 

"He plays, too?" 

"Oh no." The short boy shook his head. "He's not on the team. I don't blame him though, he's like a god when it comes to tennis. Kevin's national material, he even made it to the nationals and all the war to Japan. I'm pretty sure Nichrome wouldn't be leading the team if Kevin was here." 

"Sound like a man of issues." Damn, he should have tapped his mouth shut. 

"Many, _many_ issues." Lina agreed. "But we're not talking about him right now, we're talking about Nic's reason to extend the TRS." 

"Well, I guess he feels threatened by all the newcomers this year." The short boy offered them a brief smile, setting all of his belongings on the next next to the wall. 

"True." Pilica twirled her hair. "Macchi's the only one who would not admit his insecurity when it comes to the team. Otherwise, Nic doesn't have to be so bitchy all the time. But then again, he's just a little too absorbed in his position against all odds." 

Every paused. 

"And _that's_ why you study psychology and I don't." Horohoro concluded, staring at his younger sister. But then again, what else was there to say? they were two years apart and in the same science class. 

They were abruptly cut off as a loud and high-screeching bell twirl through the school, signaling the beginning of class. The group had shrugged, each finding a seat in the back row, it was easier to socialize that way. 

Hao looked around the room, turning toward Lina. "Who many people are this class?" 

The girl sitting next to him shrugged, twirling the end of her pen. "I don't know, seven? Or was it eight? Like I said, not many people take a interest in these kind of things, I wouldn't blame them." 

That was the end of their conversation. Ms. Kane had started a semi-interesting lesson on the reproductive system, and what to look out for during autopsy when the victim is extracted by any sort of chemical. Hao had stopped taking notes after three pages of his notebook, noticing that no one else was either. 

The discussion ranged from various small details to vase complications and pointers relating to time of death and hormone tissues. Hao was only half-listening, since he had already gone over this particular subject back in his old school. But by the confused look on everyone else's' face, he was probably the only one. 

Halfway during the lesson, Ms.Kane finally set her chalk down, realizing that she had already filled the blackboard with equations and formulas unknown to mankind. She turned to the class before letting out a smile. "Now, any questions?" 

About everyone raised their hand. 

"Does anyone actually listen in this class?" Ms. Kane offered them a devious smile, raising her chalk once again. "It would certainly my job easier if you do. "Alright, Manta." 

The short boy Hao had spoke with earlier stood up in his seat. "Um... How can you tell the biological difference that's the clause of time with the reproductive cells if the cause of death was after reproduction had stooped?" 

"Gee." Horohoro whispered to Hao. "_I_ was about to ask if she would repeat the whole thing over again." 

Hao, however, wasn't really listening. Between the phases of being half asleep, he let a some mumble under his breath, saddening catching Ms.Kane's attention. 

"Could you please repeat that?" The young women gestured toward Hao. 

"By the amount of oxygen flow in the blood." He replied dully, hand leaning onto the palm of his left-hand. Ms.Kane looked delighted while the rest of the class stared at him, dumfounded. Manta was back to scribbling in his notes. 

"Any other questions? Yes, Pilica?" 

"I just have something to object to Hao's answer." 

"Oh, let's not start this again." Hao heard Lina mumble under her breath. 

"How can someone measure the amount of oxygen if the chemicals were already placed in the body? That would mess up blood circulation as well as the flow of oxygen and-" 

Hao raised his right hand to cut her off, stilling learning on his freehand. "It doesn't matter. Testings for blood always rinse through respiration first, so it doesn't matter is the level's been tampered with, it'll still come out right." 

Pilica looked slightly surprised, but mostly annoyed that the boy had cut her off. "But-" 

"Hey! I have a question!" Horohoro cut in. "What _is_ the reproductive system?" 

"Oh god." Chiaki pressed a hand to his face. "_Why_ are you in this class again?" 

"You shut up-" 

**RIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG**

But they were both cut off by the sound of the bell. Has it been an hour and half already? Ms.Kane breathed a sigh of relief as everyone started filling up the door. "We'll finish this next time." 

Hao had wondered if anyone was listening to her, probably not. He was distracted as Lina waved a hand in front of him. "What do you have next?" 

"World History through 1000 A.D." 

"Oh, fun." The girl grinned. "You have it with me." 

True enough, she was probably the only person he would recognize in the class. While the topic had been null, the class time was even more bleak. The professor rambled, the students ignored him. Basically, it was the perfect time to catch up on some beauty sleep. 

By the time lunch rolled around, Lina had somehow forced him to sit with her pack of tennis crazed people. 

"Hey, it's the fabio wannabe." A blue-haired senior, who was later introduced as Kanna, smirked at him. 

"Um... Really?" HaiRuwo pressed a thoughtful finger to her chin. "I would've said he was a little more Brad Pitt-ish, but you're probably just blind. Honestly, do not see his jawbone and-" 

"Enough." Macchi rolled her eyes, opening her yogurt. "Let's not venture into the land of plastic surgeries and freakish similarities with celebrities and such. I'm trying to eat." 

"I think I'll relocate." Hao spoke up. 

"No, you will not!" He was cut off by Zria, entering the scene with Redseb and Seyram. "Everywhere else is filled with snobs. We are _NOT_ handing another member of our clan over to the plastics." 

"Eh?" 

"See him?" Macchi explained, pointed to the boy next to Nichrome, sitting on the other side of the cafeteria. "He used to be with us, until he was invited to the dark-side. Can't have people dumping out us anymore." 

"I thought Nichrome was _"with us"_." Hao leaned back in his seat. 

"No." Macchi's eyes darkened. "He's not, he'll never be." 

"Oh good, it's another discussion about Cap's darker side." Redseb whined, biting through his sandwich. "She just never got over the fact that they're not friends anymore." 

"Yeah." Seyram agreed. "Macchi-neesan used to be great friends with him until they broke up and-" 

"Okay, people. Let's not talk about me as if I'm not here, okay?" The redhead cut in, suddenly annoyed. "Oh, look. There's Mari, I'll go get her!" She stood up, making her way toward her blond friend standing in line for the lunch. 

Hao had easily spotted Mari. She was the shortest one, standing with the rest of americans, looking unbelievably small. 

"Aw, it's kinda sad, you know?" Manta spoke up, looking at the figure of Macchi and Mari chatting. 

"Uh?" 

"Macchi and Nichrome, I was so sure they'd grow old together, or _something_." HaiRuwo explained. "Then they broke up over the whole tennis thing, I thought the world was coming to an end." Hao suddenly felt himself -listening- to their rambling. 

"Yeah." Pilica added. "Now she's taking it upon herself to pair Mari and him up, even though that's just so..." 

"Uncool." Kana added in. "'Cause everyone knows that Nichrome still likes her, and she's still head over hills for him, little Mari is just stuck in the middle of it all." It was getting more interesting by the second. 

"Yeah, but it's not like she'll say anything about that." They were suddenly joined by a group of five girls. 

"Ah, intros again." It was Lina to Hao's confusing rescue. "Meet our very own Lily5. Mily, Lily, Sally, Elly, and Sharona." 

Hao paused. "Why didn't the last one end in an "ly"?" 

"AH!" Elly glared at her blond friend. "It's all your fault! We told you to change the name, it was throwing off our rhythm!" 

"Oh no, you started it again." Redseb sighed, stuffing his mouth with chips. 

"Oh, so sorry, I'm late." Hao looked up as a... Rather girlishly boy sat down opposite of him. 

"Ah, Lyserg-sama!" Milly chipped happily, pushing her lunch-bag toward the boy. "Did your rehearsal go well, is there anything you need? I can help with-" 

"Let's not make him choke or anything, Mil." 

"Hey." Hao slowly knodged Lina. "Who's he?" He gestured toward the table in which Nichrome was sitting at, containing: Horohoro, Chiaki, Manta, Nyorai, an african boy, and another boy with dark hair, and a blond boy with sunglasses in his hair. 

"That's Kevin Smith, the one we talked about." Lina replied. "Looks like he really did skip class." 

"No, that other guy." 

"Oh, the one with the gravity defying hair?" HaiRuwo smirked. "That's my cousin, Tao Ren." 

"Never seen him around before." 

"Well, he's with the basketball people." Lina shrugged, snapping her can of pepsi. "Last year, when he first tried out, everyone made such a big deal over the fact he's so short. But it turns out that Ren's ubberly brilliant. He can shoot a three-pointer from a mile away." 

"I guess skill runs in the family." 

"Oh, you shut up!" 

Hao diverted his sight back to Mari, ignoring the ongoing conversation of HaiRuwo and Lina in the background. Mari was currently getting out of the line, looking around the cafeteria hopelessly. Macchi was behind her, tapping her foot. 

Then, without the consent Macchi, the blond sat down at the table with Nichrome, earning a dark look from everyone. 

"Trader." Kanna spit out under her breath, smashing her bag of chips in the process. "She always does this to us. I mean, how hard is it to decide where to sit? Mari always switch tables, it's so stupid." 

Macchi was back, looking somewhat pissed-off. She sat back in her seat next to Lina, starting to peel the outside of her orange off. Everyone kept silent as Macchi violently trace the apple-knife around the edge of her already ruined fruit. 

"Is there any need for the mistreatment of our fellow oranges?" Hao couldn't help of voice out the fact, it was kind of standard. 

"They're going out." 

Everyone froze. 

"Nichrome and Mari, they're going out. And now she's betraying me to go with him." Macchi huffed, eyes glaring draggers. 

"They're eloping?" Sharona gasped. 

"Ah, _no_." Lily silently pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "She went to sit with them, it's a periodical expression for joining the dark side." 

"Do those big words make you feel smart?" Sally shot her friend a cynically look.. 

"You loser, do you understand what this mean?!" HaiRuwo demanded dramatically, slamming a hand onto the top of the desk as she stood up in a theatrical format. "They've just send out a warning, this means WAR!" 

"War with the lunch lady?" Lyserg looked up hopefully. 

"NO! War with the snobs!" The chinese girl sniped back. "And Mari, because she is _such_ a trader! You _do not_ date your friend's ex! That's like... The rule of high-school equality!" 

"..............." 

"I think Ren finally drugged her lunch. He brain is actin' funny." Zria finally whispered to Kanna. 

"Guys, it's _okay_!" Macchi spoke up, setting her food down. "_I'm_ the one who encouraged them, remember? I think it's really cool that they're finally going out. In fact, I'm not mad, so you shouldn't be either." 

"Mach..." HaiRuwo frowned. "You don't have to be, but I still can't forgive Mari for that though. I mean, I thought she was on our side and all." 

"That snitch." Zria joined in. "I mean, we were the ones who took care of her when she was all new and friendless. And now she turns her back on us and teams up with Nichrome. What's up with that?" 

Hao had paused. Weren't they suppose to be a team? Teams don't declare wars on each other, especially not with the caption. That's just... Well, wrong. "Why does it matter, then?" 

"Because." Elly leaned foreword on the table. "Nichrome is with the other side. See those girls they sit with? We hate them, they hate us, we ignore the possibilities of socializing. It's a win-win situation." 

"Yeah." Milly chipped in. "Social class is everything here, so you can't just switch sides on people like that!" 

"And some of them might be nice, but most of them aren't." Kanna continued on. "We get along with Chiaki, Horohoro, Ren, Chocolove, Nichrome and all; the rest of them are just... They treat everyone like dirt, act like kings and queens." 

"Our very own monarchy." Redseb let out a snicker. 

"And rules of popularity are set before it all." Seyram nodded. When it came down to popularity, Hao was the epitome of an enigma. But he couldn't help but wonder if that was the reason everyone was so kneen on making him stay with their table. 

"So, you get along with the guys; only because they also play tennis. Is that it?" Hao paused slowly. 

"Truer words, I have never heard." HaiRuwo replied grimly. 

"It's not all that bad, really." Lyserg explained softly. "But you know how everything is more dramatic in high-school. If Mari suddenly decided to switch groups, then they weight it like treason." 

Hao couldn't help but wonder. "And what is treason?" 

Everyone looked away as Lyserg offered him a sorrowful look. "You'll see." 

If Hao knew these people, and he didn't, he might might've even guessed that something was coming up. But with the deletion of time and efforts to drop by the office after school, he didn't have much time to dwell on that piece of information. 

The last class of the day passed unnoticed as Hao followed the herd of students out the class, quickly stopped at his locker to pick up some books. He decided that his house on Richman's Grove was close enough that he can afraid missing the bus to walk home. 

What he need right now is to meet with the counselor. After all, plans of a soccer team wasn't going to act on itself. 

Hao had managed to find the office easily enough, the only problem was that most of the student volunteers had already retired for the day. He let out a sigh of relief when he finally spotted Nyorai, coming in. 

"Problem?" She had offered him a soft smile, going back behind the counter. 

"I guess, I need to make an appointment with.... Ah, the counselor." He replied grimly, slumping the strap of his backpack over on the right side. 

"Oh, you don't need that." Nyorai smiled, leaning back to shout at someone. "Jeanne, is Ms. Grant in?" 

Hao had half expected an american girl to pop up behind the counter. Instead, he was greeted by pale skin, silver locks, and crystal ruby eyes. "No, she's out at the moment. Would you like to leave a note, possibly?" 

"Eh... Asakura Hao. Grade 11." 

Jeanne nodded, scribbling some pointers down on a Stockton's. "I'll make sure to drop this off in her mailbox on the way back, is that okay?" 

"Eh." Hao seriously wondered if there was a "on" button to spike up her volume. "Eh, sure." 

"Good day." Jeanne bowed, going back into the other side of the consoling department. 

"Sorry about that." Nyorai smiled, leaning onto the counter. "Jeanne's just like that, don't mind her. She's just naturally quite, but a genius when it comes to filing and organization" She paused. "Looks like you missed the bus, need a ride home?" 

"Eh?" 

"The basketball team's been car-pooling since last year." She shrugged, piling back another stack of paper of the counter. "If you can wait until five-thirty, you might catch a ride ride with one of them." 

Hao had considered it for a second. It wasn't as if he had anything significant to do at the moment or anything. "Well, if Ms. Grant comes back, you know where to find me. I'll drop by the tennis court then; they have practice, right?" 

"Everyday." Nyorai nodded. 

------------------------------ 

"You're _not_ doing tag-teams!" The tired voice was the first thing Hao heard upon entering to courts. It seems that most of the players had always gathered there, fully changed into their exercise cloth. 

Nichrome was sitting on the bleachers, fussing over a line of boys. "We already have a system." 

"Fine." A green-hair boy replied dully, turning back to face the first court. "I'll play them. But if I win, I'm in." Hao turned to see Kana and Zira standing on the other-side of the first court, rackets in hand and ready to play. 

"I'll be the referee!" HaiRuwo offered. 

Hao had seriously debated over whether he should walk down the none-so steep hill surrounding the tennis courts. After a few seconds, he decided not to. This was the perfect position to examine their game, it was almost a birds-eye view. 

"Come on." Zria picked up her racket, getting in a ready position behind the server's line. Kana was adjusting her position in the server's box. "You get one set, no more than six games, no tiebreakers. Get four points and you're in." 

The challenger nodded, bouncing his tennis ball a few times on the sideline before coming to a halt. He threw the ball into the air, eyes following the path of the inanimate object. As the ball began to fall downward, he swung his right arm in over his head in a circular motion, racket connecting with the ball in perfect time. 

Hao watched the the ball progress over the net before bouncing once on the other side. The path was soon cut off as Zira returned it with a smooth motion of her arm. 

The ball went back over the next, taking a final bounce near the server's line. 

HaiRuwo took a deep breath. "**Fifteen-love!**" 

Kanna grinned at Zira as the switched sides. The ball was served by Zira again, landing perfect on the side side. 

The green-hair boy returned it with a backhand, letting the ball sweep past the two girls in the middle. 

"**Fifteen-All!**" 

BANG. Zira served it over the net again, making a soft contact with the ground as the boy returned it with ease. 

"**Fifteen-Thirty!**" 

BANG. Another serve returned. 

"**Fifteen-forty!**" HaiRuwo grinned. "Oh, this is getting interesting." 

BANG. The boy returned it, barely on the line. 

"**GAME, Senkun! One to Love. Change courts!**" 

"Who's that?" Lina whispered over at Pilica. Both were sitting on the bleachers behind Nichrome, silently watching the game. "He's actually pretty good." 

"Senkun Morris. He's in my English class, sophomore." 

"**GAME, Kanna and Zira! One to One!**" HaiRuwo announced, happily sitting in her top-seat. 

"I thought we might be getting somewhere, my friend." Chiaki mused over his can of Propel, tossing it into the air. He turned to Manta, leaning one-handed one the court-fence. 

The shorter boy was sitting on the ground, typing into his laptop. "His backhand need a little working on, and he needs to move a little more on the court. But other than that, he's got a pretty good serve and balance. We could use someone like that." 

"**GAME, Senkun! Two to One. Change Courts!**" HaiRuwo's voice erupted into another burst of mummers from by-standers who were watching. Hao paused before realizing that the bleachers were now filled by the Track team, taking a break from practice. 

"Look Tamao, he's creaming them!" A senior smiled good-naturally, her green hair being pulled back by hair clips. 

"Ne, Jun-chan. I don't think Zira and Kanna are playing to their fullest potentials yet..." The pink-hair girl replied quietly, hand clinched onto her water-bottle. 

"Yeah, but they're play two against one." Sally, who he remembered from lunch, cut in grimly. "And you can't say those two aren't good player either, I think they're testing him." 

"**GAME, Senkun! Three games to One!**" 

"Hm... Not bad." A blond senior smiled, walking past the court. 

"Meene, break'll be over soon, let's head back." Her friend smiled, taking his girlfriend by the arm. 

"Ah, but I want to watch the game Denny!" 

"**GAME, Senkun! Four games to One! Change Courts!**" 

"ENOUGH." Nichrome stood up, walking into the court. "There's no point on continuing the game." He casted an wary glance at Zira and Kanna. The girls only glared back in response. 

"Aw." HaiRuwo wined, putting her hand on the rail handles of the referee stool. "But I like sitting up here, it makes me feel important. It makes me feel all tall and mighty!" 

Hao silently grinned to himself, looks like the tennis team just found another member. He had to admit though, the match was pretty impressive. Of course, he could already pick out the flaws of each players already. He silently found the muse to pick up a racket himself and play some tennis. 

"Hn. Pathetic." 

Hao turned to see a blond boy beside him, getting ready to leave. His blond hair was chopped in two bangs, falling into crystal blue eyes. He blinked for a few seconds, trying to recollect his memory. "Kevin Smith?" 

The blond boy turned around, sending him a non-so friendly glare. "Who are _you_?" 

Hao shrugged. "Not important. I hear you're a national tennis player, why not joining in the fun down there?" He gestured toward the tennis court.

Kevin merrily narrowed his eyes. "I don't know who you are or why you're talking to me, but I gave up tennis a long time ago." 

"You look familiar, have I seen you somewhere before?" 

"Hn. You probably have, a lot of people have seen me on TV." 

"Aren't you the egotistic one?" 

"Do you have anything else to say to me, oh mysterious stranger? Because I have places to be going." With that said, Kevin walked away, trailing onto the sidewalks in the direction of the parking lot. 

"Okay, what was that?" 

Hao turned around to see Macchi behind him, blinking. 

"Why were you trying to socialize with Kevin?" The redhead demanded. 

"Is that a crime now?" 

"No..." Macchi frowned slightly. "But I thought it was odd. You were talking to him about tennis, and he didn't blow up at you. That's what normally happens when we try to talk to him." 

"Maybe he just didn't realize I'm japanese." The brunette shrugged. 

"Maybe." The girl agreed. Hao had meant for it to be a joke, he didn't expect her to take it seriously. But it seems that it might have been the truth, talk about racists. 

"Anyways, what are you doing here?" Macchi grinned. "I didn't know you were interested in watching tennis, I thought you didn't like it." 

"I never said that." Hao shrugged. 

"Oh, are you gracing the sport of Tennis with your interest now?" The redhead smirked, pulling her arms behind her head. "I heard Lina offered you a position on the team, you should be honored. She usually doesn't do that." 

"How's so?" 

"Easy, because Nichrome is in a searching frantic right now, he can't find the rest of the players in time for the season. As of now, we only have five boys on the team, we'll need at least ten more." She sighed. "I guess talent is just so hard to find these days." 

"Really?" Hao was amused by the topic. "And why are you telling me about it?" 

"I just thought you might be the kind of person to really enjoy something." Macchi smiled. "Sometimes you lose focus on the main goal when you're playing a sport. All they think about is to win, win, win. But that's entirely missing the point of Tennis. I love to play Tennis because it something I really enjoy, I love the sport and is happy with the fact that I can share my interest in it with all my friends. 

"But sometimes Nichrome loses the meaning of doing so, and all he can think about is getting more players and winning. He's a good player, he his heart isn't in the right place, and I'm afraid he might be rubbing off on the rest of the team. I want everyone to play tennis because it's something they really love, not because it's something to gloat about." Her eye's softened. "I know you must really care about soccer to want to start your own team, and I totally respect that. But what I respect even more about you it your devotion to soccer. If you can use the same methods and apply them to tennis, I know you're make a great impact on our team." 

Hao paused. 

"Yeah, yeah. I know, this is all absurd and all." Macchi smiled. "But I really hope you can consider it. Maybe it's not just soccer you love, but it's the teamwork and feeling you get out of playing it. So I really, really hope you can give Tennis a chance." 

That had stroke a cord, a speech like that can was really kind of inspiring. "I'll think about it?" 

"Really?" Her eyes lit up. 

"Yeah, yeah. Just don't expect too much." 

---------------------------------

"Hao, Ms. Grant is back." Nyorai smiled. "Do you still need to talk to her?" 

"No, never-mind. Forget it, it's nothing important." 

---------**TBC**------------- 

Kevin Smith is one of my absolute favorite characters from Prince of Tennis. And since he's American and all, I couldn't help but to take advantage of the situation by adding him. I have no idea if he lives in California or anything, but I'm just guessing. XD So yeah, now you can call this a Shaman King and Prince of Tennis Cross Over. 

And I found it amusing that some of the main characters are finally introduced here. Yes, people, they are not important. If anyone really cares, the rest of the mankin cast will come in as players from other schools. Yeah, that include Yoh and Ann. 

The whole thing about Tennis was just... Mushy. This is what happens when you watch anime to long, it's kind of sad. 

Reviews, please? 

**Chiharu**


	3. Plus Trainer

Don't Own Shaman King or Tennis no Ohjisama. Jada Hadiya and Corinth Saki are copyrighted to **Misai**. Honto Chiaki, Kuroba Lina, Mizuhara Delphi, Tao HaiRuwo, and Eli Gorski are owned by me. This is a "**Borrowed Dreams**" Community Production. 

**Integrate**

By: Kitori Chiharu 

Chapter Three: Plus Trainer 

Hao never really had any specific interest in their three-story house on Mystic Blvd. But the sight of greeting upon entering his own house was something he did not expect. 

"Eh." The brunette paused, throwing his jacket over the hanger. "Anna." 

"Hao." The blond girl nodded in acknowledgment. 

"Right, I'll be in my room." He didn't exactly need to tell her that, but it was only natural for Anna to be on top of everything. It was only a matter of time before she investigated, so he decided to just point out the facts. 

He headed toward their top-swirled stair way, gliding all the way to the his room on the second floor. He mumbled softly before pushing the door open, slumping toward his bed. 

"Ah, Aniki." A soft voice spoke up. 

"Hey, you." Hao stuffed his face onto his pillow, laying head-down on the bed. "Why is your insane girlfriend downstairs? She almost gave me a heart attack..." 

"Ah." Yoh smiled, soft brown hair follow on the back of his neck. "Anna needed to borrow some notes. Since she already came over, it would be rude not to ask her to stay for dinner." 

"What did Beth say?" 

"Not much. She said it would be her delight to have a guest over." The younger twin sat down on the foot of Hao's bed. "Guess that means we'll be having another fancy dinner. I don't think Anna really cares though." 

"She's just happy she'll be getting a free meal." 

"Aniki!" Yoh smiled, soft point of teasing in his voice. "Anna's not like that." 

"Right....." 

The twins fell quite. Yoh leaned back against the wall, humming at the ceiling. "How was your day?" It was so like Yoh to start a conversation like this, he was just too polite for Hao's liking. 

"Fun." Hao mumbled against the safety of his stuffed pillow. 

There was a soft chip of music from FuFu's cage. The pigeon was sleeping near the other side of the wall, hanging happily near the window. The moment only introduced the light silence, engulfing the room. 

"Yoh?" 

"Hai?" 

"What do you think of Tennis?" 

"You know I'm no good when it comes to playing sports, Aniki." Hao rolled around in his sleep to catch a sheepish grin from Yoh. "But you can ask Anna over dinner, she's on the Girls' Team. I'm sure she'll know quite a lot." 

"........." 

"Yoh?" 

"Hai?" 

"You're hopeless." 

....................................

"So, how was your day?" Beth smiled toward the twins, hands clammed in silvery fork and knife. They were gathered around the table for dinner, the smooth red wood frame elegantly held all the dishes and plates. 

"It was kind of nice." Yoh grinned. "Someone knocked over Faust-san's model in the lab room, and he went insane and started freaking people out. Jada had to dump Coffee on him to make him stop." 

"Sounds..." Beth offered him a weak smile. "Very interesting." 

Yoh shrugged, proceeding with his meal. "Oh, and Anna made Campus Patrol." 

"You did?" Hao eyed the blond slowly, ever so grateful that he transfered schools. 

"Yes. But only because Sati thought it would be wise to use some brains. All Yoh ever does it sleep and listen to music, it doesn't help very much. Those Seniors are too busy with collage applications right now to care, and Namari is starting a cult to destroy all the toilet papers in the school." The way her expression remained neutral only make it more humorous. 

Mikihisa let out a soft snicker, it was soon covered up the sounds of quite choking. 

"Oh." Yoh chipped happily, breaking his bread in half. "Lililala-san was on the verge of suspending Bluebell for getting into fights about the forest." 

"What's wrong with Bluebell?" Hao inquired, raising a steady eye-brow, 

"Well, you know all those flowers the Plant Club have on the South Door?" Yoh explained. "Well, the Track team ran over it all during practice, and now they've started a war against environmental protection. They're petitioning to the headmaster." 

"All of Campus Patrol were called in to break the fight." Anna added, a soft hint of amusement on her pretty face. "It was a riot, all the students came to see the fight. We had to spray the them." 

"Spray?" Hao smirked softly. Bluebell was known throughout St. Rudolph High for her protectiveness over animals and plants, and the Track Team was obviously famous for their reckless running. But Spraying them was a little harsh. 

"Oh, you're gonna love this." Yoh grinned. "It was the air spray they use for the kitchen, it smelled so bad that the entire riot cleared up within minutes." 

Mikihisa burst out laughing, one hand clapped over his mouth. Beth smiled softly, but not very amused. Hao smirked at his twin, shaking his head. 

"And they're also starting a foreign exchange program with some other corporative counterpart in Japan." Yoh's grin became wider. "They say it'll be a productive trip since we're privately founded and all. I'd love to see Japan again, but we can't go because it's only for foreign Language students." 

"So they'll be shipping Japanese St. Rudolph students over?" Mikihisa blinked. "Wouldn't that be pretty interesting?" 

"Yeah, we'll be delighted." Anna shrugged. "But most of them doesn't have enough English Skills, so now the Campus Patrol also have to babysit them around." 

"But still." Yoh grinned. "Campus is not nearly as interesting without Aniki around." 

"Ah, you flatter me. That's the second time today." Hao smirked. 

"Oh?" 

Hao leaned against his left elbow, grinning. "It turns out that Kerry High is the weirdest public school in California. Everyone's been trying to recruit me for teams and all, it's kind of aggravating." 

"I thought you were aiming for Soccer." Beth paused, setting her napkin down. "What happened to your plan?" 

"Nothing, really." The older twin shrugged. "But we don't have a Soccer Team." 

Everyone froze from eating. 

".........." 

"Are you freaking serious?" Mikihisa stared at his son. 

"You're obsessed with Soccer." Anna pointed out. 

"Hey!" 

Hao shrugged once again. "Well, I met a bunch of people from the Tennis Team, and they're trying to recruit me just so I can get on their captain's nerves." Well, that's not exactly the way to put it. 

"So..." 

"I might as well sign up. You know, a change of plans once in awhile." 

.......................................

The first thing Hao noticed upon walking into the campus was Mari. She was looking around the sidewalks slowly, shaking her pigtails in different directions. Her books were all scattered over the ground, possibly already stepped on. 

The blond frowned, reaching for her Literature Book as he picked it up. She blinked as Hao kneed down next to her, gathering all the remains of her pencils and such. 

Mari blinked slightly as Hao stood up with most of her books in hand. "Than... Thank You." 

Hao offered her a soft smile. "You're Welcome. Do you need help caring these? They just look really heavy for a small girl like you." 

Mari smiled, nodding happily. 

"How about I carry these for you, and you can tell me where your first period is." The boy smiled politely. It was another tool of the trade in wooing girls, as he learned from previous experience from St. Rudolph. 

"Mari has... Algebra." She replied in a somewhat soft voice, following Hao down the path of the sidewalk. 

"Really?" Hao grinned at her. "So do I, but I don't think I've seen you there before." 

"Mari saw you, on Monday." The pigtail girl smiled. "You were the new guy Chiaki pointed out." 

"Chiaki's the blond from the Tennis Team, right?" Hao resurfaced his memory. He turned left on the sidewalk, continuing the path down to the Algebra Room. 

"Yes, he-" 

"There you are!" Macchi exclaimed from the door, waving at the two of them. She skipped a fews feet toward Mari, taking the remaining of her book. "I've been waiting for eons!" 

"Where were you yesterday? We went to get a Pizza, but couldn't find you." The redhead turned to Mari, frowning. 

"Mari..." The blond blushed. "Mari went to the park with Nichrome." They walked into the room, setting her stuff on an empty desk. 

"Really?" Macchi narrowed her eyes. "Well, can you make it to the Mall on saturday?" 

"What's happening on Saturday?" Lina jumped up behind the Mari, grinning happily. "Kiyosumi's back from the dorm for a break, I'm dragging him along with me the Movies." The redhead clapped her hands together happily. "He was suppose to hang out with his friends, but me being the spoiled kid that I am, guilt-tripped him into catching a movie with me." 

"Aw!" Lina look offended. "Sengoku's dropping by and you didn't tell any of us? You traitor!" She pushed Macchi on the arm. "I want to come, haven't seen him in years!" 

"Neither have I, and I'm his cousin!" Macchi huffed back, hands on her hips. "And he's probably brining a friend with him, so I'll be able to bring someone with me." 

"And I wasn't the first one you came to?" Lina smirked sarcastic, faking hurt. She put a hand on her heart for dramatics, slumping down in her seat. "I'm in shock!" 

Hao decided not to venter into the topic, taking a seat in his desk. This was just girl walk anyways. 

"And you!" Macchi someone sat on his desk-top. "Did you consider joining the team yet?" 

"I might reply if you stop bugging me about it." 

"Arg." The redhead rolled her eyes. "I can't stand you." 

.........................................

As far as possibility went, Hao really didn't have any idea as to what Macchi was planning. But his most unfortunate mistake was to let the redhead catch him by the sign-up sheet near Gate Two. He had expected her to start yelling and hugging him in happiness, but she did none of the above. 

"You're signing up." She smirked, leaning against the wall. 

"I am, but only because I decided to try something new." He shrugged, dropping the pen next to the clipboard attached on the wall. He slowly scanned the list of names on the sheet, flipping through his memory for possible resemblance. 

Macchi seemed to have noticed, doing the same. "There's a lot of people trying out this year, we still have ten positions left, but only one more single's spots. Neither Manta or Senkun is interested in it, so I'm kind of hoping someone good comes along. The ending day is this friday, maybe you should try and get ready for it." 

"Why?" 

"Because Nichrome's going to be putting the us against the hopeful attendants, so you may end up playing one of us. It's only natural that you try and warm-up a little bit." She shrugged carelessly. "Are you busy during fourth block?" 

"No, free period." 

"Drop by the tennis court then." Macchi replied, giving him a small wave before walking away. 

.............................

Hao was never the type of person to follow orders, but since he really had nothing else to do at the moment, he decided to drop by the court. He was right to do so, because Macchi was sitting on the bleachers, humming up at the sky with her tennis supplies next to her. 

"You know, I could've just went home after third period." He pointed out dully. "What's so important I have to stay after school during unnecessary hours?" 

"Don't be silly." She stood up, taking an extra racket out. "You have no experience in Tennis, and you want to make the team?" 

"Hey, you're the one who tried to recruit me." 

"I know _that_." She shrugged, handing the blue racket to him. Hao paused before holding it by the handle, twisting the strings around. "So I brought someone you can practice with." 

"Who?" 

"My cousin." Macchi grinned happily, swinging her feet happily on the bleacher. 

"The one you talked about?" He raised an eyebrow, taking a seat next to her. "Then where is he?" 

"Relax." The redhead leaned back. "I just called him over, he's probably sleeping. Kiyosumi just got back from collage for break, and since he has no where else to lounge, he's staying at our place." 

"Why?" 

"Oh, because he's studying in UCA even though he lives in Japan." She shrugged. "And since our place is only an hour away, he would drop by whenever he's free. But don't doubt him though, he's the best Tennis player in the world!" 

"Ah, the way you flatter me." A steady voice broke their conversation. 

Hao looked up to see, to his somewhat dismay, another redhead standing in front of then. He had a semi-messy hair and dark blue eyes, currently yawning while holding a tennis bag in his free hand. Hao could make out the work "Yamabuki" imprinted on it. 

Chiaki and Manta was standing behind him, grinning. 

"You made it!" Macchi jumped back, clapping her hands together. 

"Of course, why else would you be waiting here?" The older redhead grinned, running a hand through his tangerine orange hair. 

"Oh, but I brought back-up just in case you overslept." She nodded toward Chiaki and Manta. 

"Well, I ran into them near the parking lot." The collage boy replied, setting his bag down. "Since I was lost and had no idea where the tennis court is, they brought me here, lucky." 

"Okay, introductions." Macchi grinned, pulling Hao up. "That's my cousin, Sengoku Kiyosumi. Lucky-chan, here's the guy I'm trying to brainwash into Tennis, Asakura Hao. Oh, and those two are the annoying prats on the boy's Team." 

"Hey!" 

"Well... Manta's not annoying, just Chiaki then." 

"You-" 

"You are _so_ weird." Sengoku mused, ruffling her hair. Hao smirked in amusement, it was _definitely_ the hair. He suddenly turned to look at him, grinning. "So, have you played Tennis before?" 

"No." 

"Never?" 

"Oh, this will be good." Chiaki smirked, taking a seat next to Macchi on the bleachers as Manta followed suit. 

"Well, we'll just warm up, then." Sengoku shrugged, zipping his jacket out. Hao momentarily noticed the muscles on his arm and legs, it didn't look like the product of just Tennis alone. 

"Oh, and don't mess with Lucky-chan because he does boxing too!" Macchi yelled from the bleachers. Hao didn't bother to ask about the name, he had a dreadful feeling that he was bout to find out soon. 

"Here, we'll just hit the ball back and forth, kay?" Sengoku grinned from the other end of the court, easily hitting the tennis ball over on the other boy's side. 

Hao tightened his grip on the handle, swinging it back while turning his body sideways. He wasn't sure if he looked stupid doing so or not, but the ball immediately bounced back on the redhead's court. 

"Sorry, that was out." He mumbled. 

"Are you sure you haven't played before?" The older boy replied from the other end, an amused tone in his voice. Macchi and the others looked on between the two of them. 

"No, but I've read the rules and direction in P.E. class." Hao shrugged. "And I just have good reflexes. I think." 

"Right." Sengoku grinned, sending another ball over. Hao managed to hit it back without going out of the single's line, but nearly lost his grip in the progress. 

The older boy smoothly returned the ball to the point next to him. The brunette managed to lob the into the air as Sengoku easily hit it back. 

They went on from there, rallying the ball over and over again. Hao managed to get the hang of control and direction of his balls, moving smoothly with his right hand on the racket. 

"Now you mentioned it." Chiaki leaned over his seat, poking Macchi by the arm. "Have I seen your cousin before somewhere? He just look... Kind of familiar." 

"His name is awfully ringing." Manta replied, scribbling some things onto his laptop. "I'm running a search for him in the database, just to see if anything comes up." 

"Oh gee." Macchi rolled her eyes, pushing the lid of his laptop down. "I would appreciate it if you don't do background checks on my family. He's not gonna suddenly turn into a genetically mutated monster and spit Tennis balls at you." 

"I hope not." Chiaki muttered. "But since he's related to you and all, I wouldn't be so sure." 

"You're so funny, don't quit your day job." HaiRuwo walked in front of them, hands in her jean pockets. She looked onto the three in the bleachers, soft smirk on her face. "So, no one told me we were having a party here." 

"Eh... Who's your friend?" Macchi grinned, ignoring the question all together. 

"Corinth." She nodded toward the black-hair girl next to her, the said girl bowed politely. "She's in my French Class. Saw her in the library and started talking." 

"I had nothing to do." The girl spoke up slowly, voice evenly smooth. It sounded like music, containing a celtic tone to it. "Hope you guys don't mind, HaiRuwo said I could come with her to the Tennis Court." 

Manta looked up from his laptop. "How did you know we'd be here?" 

"Spotted a green Sports Car in the parking lot." HaiRuwo smirked, turning to face the courts. "I'm not sure there's enough seniors who would hang up four-leaf clovers on their mirror lens but.... You're cousin's in town, why didn't you tell me?" 

"Never got the chance." Macchi shrugged. "Told Lina though, I was so sure she'd have spread the new by now." 

"I haven't seen that guy in years." HaiRuwo smiled, leaning on the fence. She turned to Corinth. "Kiyo-kun is like... The funniest person to hang out with, he's totally cool and is the best when it comes to Tennis." 

Corinth looked beyond the fence, a soft smile on her face. "He sure looks like it." 

Sengoku had started practicing his serves, trying to test Hao's agility when it came to fast serves. He managed to return a few of them before the redhead picked the ball up again. "Why don't you try to serve?" 

"Fine." Hao picked up the nearest ball from in front of him, staring at it oddly. 

"If you bounce it a few times, it might help." Sengoku suggested from the other side of the Court. "That way, you can test the buoyancy of the ball, and it'll help you serve better." 

"Right..." Hao was still staring at the the ball. He numbly bounced it a few times on the court before throwing it up in the air. It was too high, and by the time it started downward, Hao swung his arm in a upward circular motion. 

The ball hit the net. 

"Eh." Sengoku grinned. "Maybe I should've told you say throwing it too high or sideward will mess up the path?" 

"Yeah, maybe. I want to try this." Hao sighed, tapping the ball a few times on the ground. He repeated the previous action, throwing the ball high into the air. He didn't know what brought on this change in actions, but he felt himself leap up a feet into the air, slamming the ball down. 

"I don't play tennis...." Corinth began, tucking a strand of her black-hair back. "But, isn't jumping too high on the serve _bad_ for you?" 

"Not really." Chiaki crossed his legs, leaning foreword with a sense of amusement. "It depends on the server." 

The ball slammed onto Kiyosumi's court, ready to bounce back when he caught it with his hand, earning stares from the viewers. He tapped the ball a few times, looking up before grinning at Hao. "Let's play a Set, I want to see how you'll do." 

"What..." Macchi stood up, leaning against the fence. "Lucky-chan, are you crazy? I don't want to kill his sense of pride before he even starts playing!" 

"I won't, Makki-chan!" The older redhead yelled back, giving her a happy wave with one eye closed. "It's just a test run, I want to see how your genie pig plays under a real match!" 

"Don't call me that!" She yelled back, face flushed. Corinth stared at her, blinking. "Oh, and he's not my genie pig either! He's _our_ genie pig! Or at least our latest one...." 

Sengoku let out a cheery laugh. "You are _so_ weird!" 

"Just play!" 

"Don't worry!" HaiRuwo shrugged. "You're _both_ weird!" 

"Let's just play." It was Hao who spoke up this time, walking over to the net. 

"Sure, if stotic-kun wants to so much." The redhead grinned once again, pulling his racket in front of him, spinning it. "Which Side?" 

"Eh..." Hao eyed the spinning racket, not sure what else to say. 

"It's either Smooth or Rough." Sengoku shrugged. The white racket was starting to lose its spin. 

"Smooth, then." Just in time, the racket feel down, face flat. 

Corinth turned to look at HaiRuwo, slight confusion showing on her face. "We normally use 'M' or 'W'." The chinese girl quickly explained. "You know, since there's always an imprint on the bottom of the handle. 

"It's Rough." The redhead leaned down, picking his racket up. "Lucky! But I want you to serve, so you can have the north side." 

Hao blinked, he didn't see the point in such things but... "Whatever." 

"I'll be Referee!" HaiRuwo bounced up again, running into the court. Hao had somewhat of an odd impression of her, maybe the chinese girl was just hyper enough to do so. 

"**Game, one set. Asakura Serve**." 

Hao lied when he said he hasn't played tennis before. He had, once or twice, against Anna. It wasn't that he had any reason to lie, he just didn't consider it a that great of a deal. Besides, it seems that the older boy could already tell. He bounced the ball once or twice on the ground, throwing it into the air before rallying it into the other court. 

It was an okay serve, as he concluded. But by the time he looked up, Sengoku was on the other end, ready to return the serve. The ball bounced back into his court as Hao managed to back up a few steps, returning it softly. He mentally winced at the speed of the ball. 

"He's not playing seriously." Corinth nodded toward Sengoku. 

"You're right, he isn't." Macchi shrugged, walking up to the half-french girl. "If Lucky-chan played seriously, the game would be over before it started. He has enough skills to play five or six matches in a row. Although, I don't see how you can tell." 

Corinth shrugged. "Like I said, I'm not an expert when it comes to Tennis. But it's just common sense that you wouldn't run around the court that much." 

"You'll see." 

"**Love-Forty!**" HaiRuwo announced, pausing. 

Hao served served, Kiyosumi returned even more smooth before his foot. 

"**Game, Sengoku! One to Love! Change Courts!**" 

"I thought you said he wasn't playing seriously." Chiaki stood up, walking up to the fence. 

"He's not, but don't expect Lucky-chan to go easy one someone just because he's not playing up to his fullest potentials." Macchi shrugged. "It's just so... Not his style. Not playing serious means he's not wasting his energy and skills on something, not that he doesn't want to win." 

Manta nodded, setting his glaze back into the match. 

Hao had managed to return the lob, running up to the net. Kiyosumi grinned, pointed toward all the empty space behind Hao on the court. He slammed the ball down, a few centimeter from the server's line. "Oh, Lucky!" 

"Game, Sengoku! Four to Love!" 

Asakura shrugged, it was his mistake for going up to the net. He couldn't cover enough grounds that way, and the back was left entirely open for envision. He grabbed another ball, ready to serve for the new point. 

The ball landed in Sengoku's court, as he managed to swing the it in an upright motions. Left, Hao mention concluded, running toward the left side of the court. 

Sengoku smirked once again, suddenly stopped the path of the ball, hitting it to the Hao's right instead. "Ne, that's an empty spot. Lucky!" 

"Why does he keep on saying that?" Manta raised an eyebrow in amusement. 

"Because he's Lucky Sengoku, stupid!" Macchi raised her index finger for effect. "Well, only when he wants to be. And when he's not relying on luck, then you're in trouble. And he...." 

Corinth and Chiaki stared at her, somewhat awed. Manta smirked, typing once again on his laptop. "Lucky Sengoku, ne?" 

Macchi blinked, her hand going up to her mouth. She glared at Manta. "You manipulative little brainac..." 

"Thank you, I take that as a complement." 

"You-" 

"**Game, Sengoku! Five Games to Love. Change Courts**!" HaiRuwo let out a soft shrug at her friend. 

"Well, whatever way you look at it, it's still a pretty nice game." Macchi shrugged back HaiRuwo. "Besides, if this is all that's about to go down, then maybe that's just the way to play tennis." 

"Now you're just mumbling." Chiaki sighed. "You make no sense what so ever. Ah, what's that word again? Inco..." 

"Incoherent?" Corinth suggested. 

"Baka." Macchi rolled her eyes, setting her glaze back on Manta, still typing. "Hey, shrimp. Found anything yet?" 

"No, there's too many keywords, the database can't interpret all of them." The short boy replied, looking up. "There's too many variations of the same term and words, the search is coming up incomplete." 

"Why don't you try..." Corinth spoke up. "'Lucky Sengoku' and 'Tennis'?" 

"**Forty-Love!**" HaiRuwo's voice brought everyone's attention back into the game. Sengoku was serving again. He easily swirled the ball over the net, catching Hao by surprise. The younger boy ran forward, managing to return the ball just in time. 

"Oh, that was a trap." Chiaki grinned, voicing out everyone else' thought. 

Sengoku was already up at the net, ready to slam the the ball down. The path was curved, aiming right toward the other side. Hao gulp, suddenly excited. He found himself take a step to the left, suddenly balance his weight on his right leg. The next thing he knew, he was leaping sideways to return the ball. 

The viewers stared at him in shock. Since when did Hao learn that trick? It took agility and speed to do such. It almost seems that Hao had just saved the last point. 

Or not, Sengoku just shrugged. Returning the ball in a high lob. It landed on the line. 

"**Eh... Game and the match, Sengoku.**" HaiRuwo looked utterly speechless. The two both walked up to the net. 

"That was a good move." The redhead grinned, holding his hand out. Hao silently shook it, shrugging. 

"What... Was that?" Macchi blinked, recovering from the inertial shock of Hao's last move. "He just started stepping and... Then changed directions and...." 

"I think that was... Half-step." Manta looked up. "It's not a complete one, though. He was only using his left leg. Unintentionally, probably. Half-step is usually a skill that takes practice to perfect, most people can't do it." 

"Most people as in, none of us?" Chiaki smirked, his dirty blond hair covering the mere of his eyes. "You say all these smart stuff no one can understand, and somehow I doubt even you can do them." 

"Doesn't any of you kids have... I don't know, classes to attend?" Sengoku was walking out of the court now, a sappy grin on his face. "Back when I was in high-school, sensei worked us silly." 

"Back when _you_ in high-school, I was in high-school to. Oh wait, I still am." Macchi rolled her eyes. "Most juniors have H block off. They either go home early, make up some homework, do extra classes, or hang out: as in, what we're doing right now." 

"And by the time the bell rings in five minutes." HaiRuwo continued. "The rest of the team is gonna come around and start practice. Are you sticking around?" 

"Nah." Sengoku stretched, racket behind his arms. "I would, but have to go downtown and get the groceries for Aunty Avern." He took out the stuffed grocery list from his pocket, grinning. "Not very lucky, if you consider it." 

"Can't you wait till I introduce you to the rest of the team?" Macchi blinked. 

"Nah, don't think so. I told your mom I was going directly to the store." Sengoku zipped up his jacket, taking a look at his watch. "And I'm suppose to be back by... Ten minutes ago. Nah, Aunty's gonna kill me!" 

The next thing Hao knew, Sengoku was running toward the parking lot, hand clinched onto his bag. 

"You're cousin.... Is weird." Chiaki concluded. "But, in a good way. I think." 

"Gee, thanks. He'll be delighted to hear that." 

.............................

"Oh, and one last thing before we end the meeting." Sati took out a a sack of papers from her bag. "There's a bit of problem involving mix-ups with the dorm rooms. And as you already know, the exchange students from Japan were originally assigned a room there, but..." 

"So, there's not coming because they're no place to live in?" Jada blinked, playing around with the tip of her pen. 

"No." The Campus Patrol Leader shook her head. "They've already paid their expenses, and since this program is nonrefundable, we can't do that. The headmaster's first idea was to clear out one or two dorm rooms, but they're all filled out this year, and we can't just kick the students living there out." 

"That leaves a very... Complicated situation." Anna agreed. 

"Exactly." Sati nodded. "So, as the Campus Patrol service, we need to take a few responsibilities in this matter." 

"What does the dorm rooms have anything to do with us?" Yugai looked up, pushing a strand of her purplish hair behind. 

"Well, for one thing." Sati calmly explained. "It would just be easily for the students to communicate with each other, if they lived in the same place. I think this would be a great opportunity for all of you to make new friends and experiences." 

"That is to say, we're being forced." Eli muttered, earning an amused look from Delphi. 

"There's only ten or so people on the list." Yin pointed out. "It wouldn't hurt to take one or two people home with you, now would it?" She gave the Patrol Team such a look of disappointment. 

"But you said all the dorms are filled." Jada blinked, slight confusion on her happy face. "Wouldn't that mean there's no where to fit them?" 

"That why we're asking the people who doesn't live in dorms to take them home." The older girl repeated. "Now, there's not a lot of us that does so, only three of four so-" 

"So basically, you don't have a choice." Anna cut in flatly. "The only ones here that goes home regularly are: Eli, Yin, Yugai, and Yoh." 

"If you want to look at it that way, consider it community service. You'll get extra credit on your record for this, and it'll help you in the long run for collage resumes." Sati nodded. "This bit of volunteer work really helps, and it's a great chance to do so." 

"Where's the list?" Yoh spoke up. 

"Why don't I just read these names out, if you hear someone interesting, feel free to claim your new roommate. Bento Keiko, Kinomiya Aurora, Nanaki Ami, Wasabi Terra, Hiwatari Midori, Mizuki Hajime, Fuji Yuuta, and Kisarazu Atsushi." 

"Hold on." Yugai spoke up. "So most of them are girls?" 

"Yes." 

Eli sighed, running a hand through his hair. He turned to Yoh. "There's three guys, I'll take one and you can take the other two." 

"Eh?" Yoh blinked. "Don't I get a chance to think about it?" 

"They're coming next week." Delphi pointed out, leaning on the back of her chair backwards. "And you have that huge house anyways, I don't think your parents would mind." Delphi and the rest of the his history had to come over once for a project. 

Yoh yawned. "Maybe..." 

Anna rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly, you have the entire third floor open. You never even use it." 

"But that's the Guests Bedroom." 

"Exactly, so use it." 

"Fine, let's do it this way." Jada grinned. "All in flavor for Yoh to take some responsibility after that jello incident, raise your hand. Everyone shrugged, doing as told. "Sorry, it's a free country; democracy wins." 

"I think I just got myself into some deep shit." Yoh mumbled sheepishly. 

"You did." Anna cut him off. 

--------**TBC**-------- 

Okay, I know St. Rudolph is a privote school. So the point I'm going for is that it's actually an internationally founded school, and that's also the one Hao transfered from. Yoh and Anna still go there. 

Eh... Sengoku makes an apperance, yeah! He's, in my happy little world, Macchi's cousin from her mom's side. I guess that's why she has a different last name, but still the orange hair. I don't know, I just love Sengoku a little too much. If you go by their original birthday from 20.5, Sengoku's probably a Collage Freshmen right now. 

Yes, that also mean Yoh will be bring home two of the St. Rudolph tennis boys, yeah for him. 

When Mari mentioned that she saw Hao on Monday, that was from chapter one. Right now... Is about Wed, and Friday is the last day for try-outs. 

What else to say... I added Corinth and Jada from Misai's fic, they're really nice OCs. 

There's also a lot of character in here. Bluebell is from the Manga, so she's not made up. Yin and Yugai are from the anime, they were the pair the Taos sent to destory Yoh after he beat Ren. You know, the girl and her ninja spirit... Thingie. 

Eh, review please? 

**Chiharu**


	4. Plus Twins

I do not own Shaman King. Eli Gorski, Delphi Mizuhara, Lina Kuroba, HaiRuwo Tao, Chiaki Mizu are all copyrighted to **Chiharu-chan**. Sumino Sakura belongs to **bOw-doWn-tO-KeiKo**, Corinth Saki and Jada Hidiya belongs to **Misai**, and Miyu Akira belongs to **KiristiexxNguyen** . 

This is a "Borrowed Dreams" Community Production. 

Soundtrack for this chapter- "Be Shiny"- Kimeru 

... 

**Integrate**

By: Kitori Chiharu 

Chapter four: Plus twins 

... 

Fridays were normally exciting for Macchi. For one thing, it meant that today was the last of the school week, and she could enjoy the weekend ahead. Of course, that didn't make any difference as to her habits of sleeping in. 

"Come on, Matilda." Avern Mattise shook her daughter harder. "Wake up, you're going to be late for school." 

The girl mumered something in her half-asleep state, but turned around to face the wall. 

"Get up!" 

Macchi covered her head with her pillow. "No, just five more minutes..." 

"You're already late." Her mother pointed out good-heartedly. 

"So? Big deal, I'll skip school." She buried her face into her teddy-bear, eyes still closed. 

"Aunty, you go finish breakfast." Kiyosumi grinned, coming into the room. "I'll wake her up." 

"Oh, alright." Avern smiled, rushing out of the messy room. Sengoku heard her steps down the stairs, taking a double take at his youngest cousin. 

"Come on, you." Sengoku grinned, pulling on Macchi bed sheets. The younger redhead stirred, but made no motion of getting up soon. Kiyosumi smirked before grabbing onto her teddy-bear, jerking it out of of her arm. 

Macchi immediate sat up in her bed, glaring at her cousin. "You are _so_ evil." 

"I know." He grinned, throwing her jeans and t-shirt from the bedpost into her arm. He headed for the door, still smirking. "Get changed soon though, you're gonna be late for school." 

"I'm _already_ late for school." 

"Not if I give you a ride." He shrugged. "Now get changed, you bum!" 

Kiyosumi slammed the door close in time as Macchi's shoe made connection with the wall. 

...

"Heading out early?" Beth poked her head up from the counter, smiling at Hao. 

"Not really." The older twin shrugged. "I want to get there a little early, I'm taking the red one, okay?" 

"But your brother needs that car do get to school." The young women blinked, wiping her hands through the towl. "What will he use?" 

"Yoh can walk." Hao grabbed his jacket and backpack, heading through the hallway. "After you wake him up." 

"He's still asleep!" 

"Yeah." Hao chuckled and made his way out the door, glad that he didn't have to be caught in another aggravating fight of waking Yoh up. This was followed by a serious of banging sounds from their room upstairs. 

He managed to back out of the garage before his twin was kicked out of the house; hand clutching onto his books, shirt barely straight, tie unwrapped, and one shoe on. 

"Hey!" Yoh tapped onto the passenger window. "Give me a ride to St. Rudolph?" 

Hao sighed. "Get in." 

Yoh was never the morning person. It took forever just to wake him not, and he practically never eats breakfast. That may explain why he was so skinny, but it was also another fact that he never really button their white-uniform shirt right. Even with the brown tie that was required with the St. Rudolph uniform, Yoh never got in trouble with the dress-code. 

Probably because he was part of the safety-patrol, Hao concluded as their car zoomed past the neighborhood. 

Yoh yawned, stretching his legs out. His brown matching pants were rolled up in the end, a jean-like fashion. "Have you had any breakfast?" 

"No, you?" Hao stole a glance at his twin, currently rolling his own window down. 

"Let's drop by McDonalds and get something to eat." 

"Kay." He reduce the pressure on the breaks, turning right into the fast food drive-through. It was now a routine for the twins, they never really ate breakfast at home. Besides, the local McDonalds was just around the corner to St. Rudolph, so it was more efficient too. 

Yoh paid for their milkshake, fries, apple pie, and burgers. Opening the rapper to the dollar-menu meal before dumping another one onto Hao's lap. 

Hao turned right again, rolling into the parking lot of St. Rudolph private school. Yoh had yawned, pushing the door open. He stuffed the fries and pie into his bag, stepping out. 

"Pick me up after school?" The younger twin asked, sipping onto his milkshake. 

"Can't." Hao frowned slightly. "Tennis try-outs end today, I have to be there to annoy what's his face... Nichrome." 

"Well, I _would_ hitch a ride with Eli, but he's car is in repair, so he's been walking home." Yoh shrugged. "I guess he doesn't really care, it's only a ten minute route." 

"I can skip practice and pick you up." Hao suggested, hands on the stirring wheel. 

"No, but you've been practicing so hard for the team!" 

"Actually, I haven't been practicing at all, it's not like I really care." 

"That's okay, I'll just ask Yugai for a ride." He headed away. 

"What? But she's never gonna let you!" Too later, Yoh was already halfway through the parking lot. Hao knew enough that Yugai wasn't the kind of girl to give out free favors, especially not to his brother. 

Hao sighed, starting the car once again. He still have to make it to school, after all. Looks like he wasn't going to be early like planned. 

...

Yoh managed to swing by his locker before leading toward the student-fac room. It was the only place he could just relax, hangout, and take a nap before second period starts. Yoh always avoided signing up for a class in the first period, just so he would make up for the sleep he lost. 

He slid the door open, blinking. The fac-room was also where the all twenty-five members of the Safety Patrol normally lounged, and he wasn't the only one who had slacking off in mind. Sumino was yawning, legs stretched on the couch. She smirked at Yoh, giving him a soft wave. "Hey." "Hey yourself." The boy grinned, setting his Mp3 player onto one of the desks. "What're you listening to?" Sumino sat up, pony-tail slightly swaggering. "Kimeru." "Really?" Sumino clapped her hands together, reaching over for his digital music player. She managed to fiddle with the palm device for a few seconds, looking up. "This is pretty neat, where did you get it?" 

"Not mine." Yoh shrugged, taking a seat next to her on the couch. "Mine broke, this is Hao's." 

"Isn't he gonna get mad?" The japanese girl blinked, fixing her tie. 

"Not really." Yoh yawned. "He never use it, it's no big deal. Besides, I bet he didn't even notice it was gone." 

"Lucky." The door opened, and entered Jada. Her blond hair tied neatly in a high pony-tail, following the school dress code. "I have to beg for the family car, and you get whatever you want?" 

Sumino blinked, turning on the coffee machine. "You're getting a license?" 

"Yeah." Jada dumped herself backwards on the mini-sofa in another corner, turning on the TV. "I'll be lucky if I can get that stupid truck though. Mom's still mad at me for the whole jello thing, grounded for three month." She casted a dark glare toward Yoh. 

**There's been a accident on the cross of Jackson's Ave and Kelt Drive, causing some major delays.** Channel five's traffic report was on. 

The said boy smiled weakly, running a hand through his hair. "I said I was sorry, didn't I?" 

"Actually, filling everyone's locker with jello wasn't very funny." Eli was now there as well, his tie falling around the neck of their white uniform, untied. "Even if you were suppose to stop him." 

"What did Silva do about it anyway?" Sumino spoke up, leaning back against the wall. "I thought he was gonna expel Namari for it or something, but he's still around." She mentally shivered. "Damn those toilet papers." 

**In other news, school officials in Laguna county were asked to cancel indoor pools because of heavy injuries due to a storm. The school board is still viewing the case, but did not reply when interviewed on the problem. Some official suspect that this might have something to do with the lack of beneficial cause between Private and Public schools within California. Recently, the school board has been asked to cancel extra days because of the riot.**

"Namari's got a rich background." Eli shrugged, keeping an eye on the TV. "They're one of the biggest sponsors for St. Rudolph. If they kick him out, we'd have to go back to instant noodles for lunch." 

"The horror." Jada rolled her eyes. 

Yoh blinked. "Hey... They weren't _that_ bad." 

"Yoh, remember how you threw up in your first year?" Sumino asked, voice somewhat serious. 

"Yeah?" 

"That was because of the noodles." 

The boy paused. "They should do something about food poisoning here." 

**Also, St. Rudolph private school has been asked to balance their Asian-American ratio. Statistic show that the school has been accepting more Asian students than US recidents. This issue has been leading to rising questions to their recent SAT scores.**

Everyone in the room turned to stare at the TV. 

**While questioning students from other schools, most have mentioned St. Rudolph's tendency to outlook applications to their school. The headmistress denies of that accuse, and said it was because of the grading levels. **

Goldva's face appeared on the screen, obviously a video recording. "St. Rudolph's student ratio might as well be a accident. We accept students that are academically inclined and are ready for the challenge of high school. Students that weren't accept has to think about their resume and application." 

The image of an reporter sticking her mircophone into Goldva's aged face appeared on the screen. "Is it true that St. Rudolph's level of admitting students is very low?" 

"St. Rudolph only accepts the best of the best." Goldva's firm face hovered over the screen. "This interview is over." 

"That is just messed up." Eli stared into the screen. 

"The other schools are just suspicious of our freakishly high SAT scores." Sumino shrugged. "I guess it's only nature for them to be scared of St. Rudolph's abilities." 

"Yeah, but they're accusing us of discrimination." Jada looked up from her seat. 

"Silva's gonna have a field-day with this." Eli smirked, leaning onto the handle of the mini-sofa. "What can they say? Even the teachers here are mostly asian." 

"There's Faust." Yoh pointed out, stirring the straw into his coffee cup. 

"Yeah, but with those heavy make-up and weird accident?" Sumino shuddered, holding her arm. "He's probably not even from this world, or universe." 

"We can always ask Eliza." 

"The nurse?" Jada made some kind of notion with her face. "She freaks me out just as much, and she never talks. You know that ax thingie she has in the back of the clinic? What _is_ that?" 

"Oh, she just keeps it there to scare people like you." Eli waved it off. "Or maybe she inspires to be a cook. Who knows?" 

"You need to stop talking now." Sumino rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna have nightmares." 

...

Fuji Yuuta stared at the boy in front of him. "What are you doing here?" 

The smiling face of his brother greeted back. "It's nice to see you too, Yuuta. Nee-chan said you were in the exchange program for St. Rudolph, why didn't you tell me?" 

The younger boy shrugged. "Didn't think it was important." 

"Yuuta." Fuji's face faltered into a somewhat serious expression. "You're leaving this weekend for California, don't you think I had the right to know about it?" 

"About what?" 

"I won't see you for two month!" Fuji replied, voice firm. 

"You never see me around anyways." Yuuta sighed, dumping another pack of cloth into his suitcase. "I'm always here, so there's not gonna be that much of a difference. Just... Think of me being in the dorm." 

"Will you call?" 

"Aniki!" He stared up at Syuusuke. "You sound like a jelouse girlfriend!" 

A cautious smile appeared on the older boy's face. "Maybe I am." 

"You're crazy, then!" Yuuta declared. 

...

"Anna, do you still have that expedition list?" The black haired girl spoke up, voice almost soft. 

Anna looked up from her laptop. "Which one?" 

"The Tap Water registration form." The other girl explained. "I filed a report for it, but Sati seems to have misplaced it. I would make another copy, but I don't have the original form with me. I thought you might have records of the-" 

Anna cut her off, reaching halfway for the drawer. She pull it open, flipping through a few sacks before picking up a slim sheet of paper. "Is this it?" 

The girl stared at her, undoubtedly impressed. "Wow... I mean, thank you." 

The blond shrugged, handing the paper over. "It's no big deal, just make a few copies off-hand and try not to lose them." 

"Arigato." The other girl bowed, heading for the door. She nearly walked into Yoh when the door opened, reveling the boy behind. 

"Oh, hey Miya." Yoh grinned, stepping aside to make way. Miya smiled, walking out of the door. 

"What do you need?" Anna's voice cut through. 

Yoh shrugged, closing the door. He sat down in the chair in front of Anna. "Goldva's looking for you. Did you see the report on channel five?" 

"Unfortunately." She replied blankly while finishing her report, not looking up at Yoh. "The TV was on in our class, everyone saw it. I'm sure Goldva will be pissed, I just don't know what our next plan of action is. That kind of accusation would ruin our reputation." 

"What're they gonna do?" 

"Then let them deal with it." Anna replied. "Silva's already investigating the reporter, he suspects inside information." 

Yoh raised an eyebrow. "Namari?" 

"Who knows." Anna set her pen down, opening her folder. "I doubt it though. Namari's got a thing for causing trouble, but he's still loyal. Besides, he like it here, so I don't see why he would do something like that." 

"Then it might as well be one of the students." Yoh sighed, rubbing his head. "That might get complicated around the place, since everyone so tightly packed and all." 

"Probably." She replied non-chant-sly, closing her folder. She looked up at the boy. "Is there anything else you want to talk to me about?" 

"Oh, yeah." Yoh grinned. "Let's go get something to eat off campus." 

Anna blinked. 

"It's lunch time!" The boy explained joyfully, standing up. "You're suppose to eat and relax, not lock yourself in the dorm and work on reports. And you never eat, it's like you're anorexic or something." 

"I'm not anorexic." Anna crossed her arms, voice flat. "I don't eat because I'm not hungry, I normally drop by the the cafeteria for food when I am. There's no need for you or worry; or worse, use your head." 

"You're so nice, Anna." Yoh smiled sincerely. Sincerely fake. "That's why I like you so much." 

"If I go with you, then will you shut up?" 

...

Sati was going through her sack of progress reports before the door to the room slammed open. She took one look at the direction before turning back at her paper. "You're not suppose to be in here." 

"So?" Namari tested, one arm leaning on the wall. "Neither are you. Care to tell me what you're doing in the file room?" 

"I'm the DA and a safety patrol officer." The eighteen year old replied, obviously getting irrated. "I'm allowed to be in here, you're not. I'm not in the mood to play verbal insults with you, so please leave before I change my mind." 

"What a waste." The older boy tisked, waving his index finger in the air. "And I was hoping you'd have lunch with me." 

Sati narrowed her eyes, turning to face the boy. "I'm very close to getting mad, so I hope you understand the situation. I'm very busy right now, so stop interrupting my work and just... Go back to whatever plan you were conniving." 

"Ah, but I was serious." He put a hand on his chest. "You hurt my heart!" 

"Your heart is on the left, idiot." She was losing all practical means of being civil to the prankster. 

"Oh well." Namari shrugged, waving it off. "Have lunch with me?" 

"No." 

"Come on, don't be so cold." He closed the door. "I'm asking you out on a date, half the population in this school would die to be in the place you're in right now." 

"Half the population as in, the teachers who already want to sack you?" 

"Don't you want to know about the inside link that reporter got?" 

The young women looked up from her file, staring. "What are you talking about?" 

"The leak." Namari smirked. "I'm not saying I did it, but I might know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows something about the one who did." 

"I-" 

"If you go get lunch with me." 

...

"Did you see Namari?" Yugai pressed a hand to her mouth, trying to surpass her laughter. She leaned back against the wall, looking down at the staircase. 

"Yeah, that nasty scratch on his cheek?" Delphi smirked, hands behind her head. "Looks like he tried to make another move on our oh-so-subtal commanding officer." "Well..." Miya looked down at her safety right-arm safty strip, trying to adjust her tie. "Maybe it wasn't her. Or maybe he just got into a fight... Or walked into a wall, or maybe-" 

"Oh, come on." Sumino rolled her eyes. She extended her right leg out on the ground, back leaning against the wall. "We all know that Namari would never lose a fight. Besides, that bruse look pretty nasty, the only girl in the school who can bitch-slap harder than Anna is Sati." 

"Yeah, I guess." Miya smiled, following Yugai's glaze down the stairs. They were on the second floor opening, the area below was the grassfeilds of the St. Rudolph campus filled with students eating lunch. "What are you looking at?" 

"The awkward couple." The chinese girl grinned. "I think they're going somewhere." 

"Literally?" Sumino blinked. "I think they're going somewhere too. I guess Anna just likes Yoh, and they're cute together. Heck, maybe even more than that, they fit nicely." 

"No, actually." Yugai pointed down. "I meant that they're going off campus somewhere." 

"_Oh_." 

"Now that you mentioned it." Sumino leaned on the handle bar, peering down. "They _are_ cute together. Yoh is so sweet, and Anna is so... Anna. How did they get together in the first place anyway?" 

"Don't know." Miya shrugged. "I wasn't here for the first year." 

"I think went to the same junior high or something." Delphi spoke up, opening her water bottle. "There was a lot of kiddy pictures in Yoh's house and all." 

"Probably." Sumino took a bite of her sandwich. 

"But there was something weird though..." Delphi pressed a finfer to her chin. "There were a bunch of pictures of Yoh and Hao, you know, when they were little kids? Well, Eli and Jada noticed that there weren't any pictures with both Yoh and Hao in it." 

"Anyone can tell they're twins, that's no surprise." 

"Maybe they didn't grow up together?" Miya suggested, leaning over her lunch-bag. 

"Not sure, Hao never talked to me about that kinda stuff." Sumino shrugged. 

Yugai sat her yogur box down her tray. "If it makes you feel any better, Hao never talks to anyone about anything serious. I still don't know why he transfered. All that seeking for challenges is bullshit, it's like here's there for a reason." 

"There's nothing left to say." Miya smiled slowly, tilting her head sideways. "Misdirection is his forte." 

...

"So." Macchi grinned. "Ready for the try-outs?" 

Hao shrugged, closing his notebook. "I guess." 

She frowned. "You don't sound very convincing." 

"Maybe I'm not." 

"Scared?" 

"No." 

"Then what's wrong?" 

"Nothing's wrong." Hao looked up from his desk to the girl standing next to him. "Why?" 

"Don't know." Macchi shrugged. "You just look distracted. I mean, you're always so semi-serious and all. And you always look like you're internally amused, and now you just look... Tired." 

"You're making me sound old." Hao smirked, leaning one arm toward his side. 

"Okay, let's stop talking about that." She replied. "Ready for the game? Like I said, Nichrome's probably gonna try to fit you with some sort of a match. Did you practice?" 

"No." He replied smoothly. 

"Okay, this is the last time I'm gonna ask: is something wrong?" She lowered her face into his view, unreadable grin on her face. 

He was about to resort into some sort of smart-mousing when he stooped. "My brother, Yoh. We use the same car, and I kinda took it in the morning. He needs a ride home from school, and I can't pick him up because of the try-outs." 

"Oh..." Macchi frowned. "Are you gonna skip?" 

"Can't." Hao stuffed the remaining of his materials into his book-bag. "He told me not to, said he's catch a ride with someone. I doubt it though. At this rate, I'll just have to play fast and pick him up." 

"What?" The redhead stared at him, awed. "You can't rush a game. That's the easiest way to mess up, you have to pace yourself when it comes to tennis." She paused. "How about if I pick him up for you?" 

Hao blinked. 

"I'll pick him up for you." The girl repeated, swinging her own bag half-way over her shoulder. "Just give me your keys." 

"What if you ride off with my car?" 

"I doubt that." Macchi rolled her eyes. "We're on the same page here, give me some credit. I can get a used-one if I want, just because my folks doesn't trust me with with a new car. You know?" 

"Yeah." Hao nodded. Actually, his parents promised him anything under seventy-thousand, but he wasn't in the mood to point that out. He could tell that Macchi's wasn't broke, she just made a notion of facing herself. 

"So?" 

"Fine." Hao diged through his jean pockets, fishing out a small fire-keychain. "It's parked in the front row, red honda." 

She followed his direction to the parking lot, looking around. It was pretty easy to find the car, it was the only manageable one. The car itself just... Glowed compared to the other. Also, the template of "Asakura" gave her some hints. 

Macchi had been to St. Rudolph once before, for a tennis game. She never paid attention to directions before, but only looked out of the school bus when HaiRuwo pointed out the local McDonalds because she was starving. If there was one thing she could remember about the private school, it was the fact that the campus was located across the street to the local fast-food drive-through.

She turned left on the stirring panel, silently smiling. Hao had a sweet ride, that was for sure. 

It wasn't hard to locate Hao's supposed "brother". Macchi spotted the boy sitting on the sidewalk, head rolling around with his MP3 player in place. Also, the fact that he looked exactly like Hao helped. She parked next to the walkway, turning the music off. "Yoh Asakura?" 

The boy snapped out of his glaze, taking his earphones off. "Eh... Yeah." 

"Well, I'm Macchi." She grinned. "And no, I didn't highjack your car, if that's what you're wondering. I'm Hao's friend, and I offered to pick you up for him so he wouldn't miss the tennis tryouts. Is that okay?" 

"Not really." Yoh shrugged, opening the doors before taking the passenger seat. It was up close that Macchi noticed his difference with Hao. Yoh had remarkable shorter hair, falling down to his nape. Yoh also had a softer, more relaxed expression than his twin. 

"So..." Macchi started, starting the car again. "Hao just told me to pick his brother up, I never knew he had a twin." 

The boy chuckled. "Nah, Hao's just being irrupting. He has this whole thing was misdirecting people, he's likes that." The way he said that made her want to laugh. 

"Yeah, I kinda figure." The tennis player found herself smiling, turning the corner on the road. "So, who's older?" 

"Hao." 

"Really?" The redhead blinked. "Couldn't tell. Why does he keep that long hair then? Don't get me wrong, it's ubberly cool, but he doesn't seem like a high-matance kind of person." 

"Dunno." Yoh rubbed his head, watching the scene out the window. "I guess he just never got it cut before?" 

Macchi raised an eyebrow, carefully to keep her sight fully on the road. "You guess?" Yoh only kept quite to the question, keeping his focus on the scenery. There was some sort of awkward silence between the two of them, it almost made Macchi feel bad. Did she say something she shouldn't? Deciding to change the topic, she spoke up again. "Oh, what were you listening to back there?" 

Yoh turned around, grinning. "Kimeru, maybe you haven't heard of him." 

"Oh no." The girl suddenly got excited. "I'm the biggest Kimeru fan out there! A friend of mine got me a CD of his, and I've been obsessed since. And there's the whole thing with his hair. Gosh, I love his hair! And I keep on spamming his BBS every day in three different languages, it's fun to harass him." 

"Same." Yoh didn't seem a bit disturbed, he only smiled in return. "It's really easy to get addicted to Kimeru, although I'm probably his only fan-boy." 

"Na-uh." Macchi shook her head, turning another corner left. "That's totally respected. I never really listened to Japanese Artists after I moved here, but the Kimeru's temptation is just too high." 

"Too right." Yoh returned her smile, making her realize how easy it is to talk to the younger twin. 

Macchi cut the brakes, backing into one of the parking spots. "We're here." 

Yoh got out, looking around the campus before Macchi grabbed him by the arm. "Courts' that way." 

The only thing weird was that... There was a bunch of unfamiliar people there, playing... Really bad tennis. Everyone else was on the bleachers, drinking water, doing whatever. Macchi managed to catch up with HaiRuwo, zipping up her bag with Ren by her side. 

"Hey, what happened with the tryouts?" The redhead questioned. 

HaiRuwo blinked. "Oh, it's over. Nichrome's posting the list up in the gym, everyone who had a chance went to look." 

"What do you mean it's over?" Macchi stared at the chinese girl. 

"Eh... You missed it." She shrugged. "Nichrome made him play Lina, I think. Came out six to five, I didn't get to see what happened since there was this really cute guy that dropped by and-" 

"What do you mean you missed?" Macchi repeated, eyes wide. 

"Don't worry." HaiRuwo looked up at the bleachers, pointed toward a certain blond boy and his companion. "He won and all, it's just that I didn't get to see how he did so. Funny, Lina was winning the last time I checked." 

"Oh geeze." The redhead covered her face with her hand. "The only time I get to see him play seriously, and I miss it." 

"Sorry." HaiRuwo smiled. 

"Did you see _anything_?" 

"Nope." 

"But-" Macchi was getting very irrated at the moment. 

"I saw it." The three turned to stare at Ren. The chinese boy merely shrugged. "I watched their match, since HaiRuwo's game was kind of... Boring." He earned a glare form the chinese girl. 

"Really?" Macchi grabbed the boy by the arm, eyes lighting up. 

"Yeah, yeah, get off me." He shooed the japanese girl off his arm. "Lina was winning, six-five and completely beating Hao. And then out of nowhere, he pulled off this really... Odd trick with the net and Lina didn't get it in time." He paused, taking a breath. "And then Lina didn't win a single point since." 

"Do you think he made it?" Yoh spoke up, pulling his tie open. The chinese pair turned to look at him. 

HaiRuwo opened her mouth, blinking. "Don't know yet. But... Are you related or something?" 

"Oh yeah." Macchi clapped her hands together, he gestured toward the boy. "This is Yoh, he's Hao's twin. Come on, let's go check the gym for Hao." 

HaiRuwo had shrugged before waving goodbye, heading home with Ren. Yoh hadn't really taken much thoughts about the two, following behind Macchi. The redhead led them through the fresh campus, soft and breeseful in the afternoon. Yoh could even see the iron colors of the sunset through the gym. 

Kerry High was a beautiful place, Yoh conclude. It was a change of environment compared to St. Rudolph, not saying that their school was not beautiful either. 

They found the older twin sitting on the bleachers in the gym, zipping up his book-bag. The rest of the team was there also, chatting while horsing around. Macchi paused to scan over the list on the wall, grinning. 

**2004-2005 Girl's Tennis Team**

Matilda Mattise  
HaiRuwo Tao  
Lina Kuroba  
Pilica Usui  
Manako Oyamada  
Zira Kanto  
Kanna Bismark  
Lip Patch  
Rap Patch  
Stephanie Owen

Expedition:  
Marion Phauna and Lily Vera. 

"Blah, blah, blah." Macchi rolled her eyes, look for the other sheet. There was no point in reading about the girls, after all-. "What the fuck?" She stared at the list, hand tracing Mari's name on the expedition list. She look back in the doubles line. 

"What's wrong?" Yoh blinked, walking up. 

"Some Stephanie Owen replaced Mari in her doubles place." The redhead accused the paper. "Who the heck is that?" 

"So?" Hao spoke up. "Big deal." 

"Yeah, it is a big deal!" Macchi frowned, hands on her hips. "I've never heard of her name before, how in the world did she pop herself onto our team and replace Mari?" She turned to look at the boys list. 

**2004-2005 Boys' Tennis Team**

Nichrome Patch  
Chiaki Mizu  
Hao Asakura  
Senkun Morris  
Taichi Dan  
Manta Oyamada  
Jake Winston  
Matt Rek  
Magma Iogico

"Who's Taichi?" 

"Don't know." Chiaki was now behind them, hands holding onto his stuff. "Cute kid, showed up during try-outs and blew Manta away with his weird serve." He paused, looking at Hao. "I didn't know you had a twin." 

"Join the club." Macchi grinned. "But how did Manta lose? He should have gotten enough information on him by the second game, that's just kinda weird for him to lose." 

"Not his fault." Chiaki shrugged. "This 'Taichi' character kept on changing styles in the middle of the game, he drove Manta insane. Nic was so impressed, he sat the kid up for rotation on singles." 

"With Hao?" 

"I wish you wouldn't talk about me as if I'm not here." The said boy replied with a somewhat sarcastic tone. 

"Forget this, I'm too tired to complain." Macchi replied with a stretch of her arms. "It's friday, the sun's shinny, and my cousin's still in town. There's nothing that can make it worse, even if my current ginene pig has be slashed down to size a bit." 

Yoh surpassed his snicker was a cough. 

"Oh." The redhead blinked. "And can you two take me home? I kinda need a ride." 

-**TBC**- 

Haha, Taichi! Bet you weren't suspecting him! Well, a lot of characters has been added, look above for the disclaimer. Dan Taichi is this aborably kid from PoT, he's so cute I just can't help but add him in. As for "Stephanie Owen", she's suppose to be the girl Billy was crushing on in the US Jr. Devision of Prince of Tennis. I have _no_ idea what her las t name is name is, I'm not sure if it was even mentioned it because she was just the daughter of some sponser for the tournament. Oh well, I like her. But she was later tutored by Billy on tennis, so I'm betting that she's pretty good. 

Yes, there were more St. Rudolph moments in this chapter than I planned. Most of these characters were kind of OCs, but I liked them anyway. lolz 

**Spoilers for Chapter five**: Enter, St. Rudolph boys 

Review, please? 

**Chiharu**


	5. Plus a pack of Japanese boys

Shaman King is strictly copyrighted to Hiroyuki Takei, TV Tokyo, Shonen Jump, Fox Box, etc. Integrate is the property of Kitori Chiharu under the fan fiction department. The characters Eli Gorski, Mizuhara Delphi, Zetra Mizu, HaiRuwo Tao are copyrighted to Chiharu-chan. Sumino Sakura belongs to bOw-doWn-tO-KeiKo, Corinth Saki and Jada Hidiya belongs to Misai, and Miyu Akira belongs to KiristiexxNguyen.

**Integrate**

Chapter five; plus a pack of Japanese boys

_In which more characters come in_

- - -

"You look bored." Kiyosumi remarked, leaning his head on his palms. He stared at the girl in front of him, poking at her bread. "What's up?"

"Racket shopping." Macchi muttered, deadly glint in her eyes.

"Huh?" Sengoku blink, tilting his head sideways. He leaned back in the seat, looking around the living room. His aunt was baking pizza while finishing up breakfast. "What happened to your racket?"

"Nothing." Macchi slammed her fist on the table, groaning. "I'm just really pissed because... Guess what? Hao doesn't even have a racket! He used the old one in the storage room yesterday, and now I have to take him racket-shopping."

"So, go?"

"Life must be very simple where you come from." The younger redhead rolled her eyes, sipping on her milk. "I want to help Hao, because we both know that he has talent for this. But I _really_ want to spend the weekend with you, so I'm just gonna ask Kana."

"Kanna's the crazy gangster, right?" Sengoku shivered.

"No..." Macchi stared at her cousin, blinking. "She's older one with the blue hair and the tattoo..."

"Yeah, the gangster." Kiyosumi nodded.

"Okay..." Macchi stood up. "I _don't_ want to know. The point is that she works at Dick's Sporting shop, and she can probably help him pick up a good racket. Not sure if she likes Hao though; I mean, she still calls him 'The Fabio Wanabe', and I don't want to leave him there by himself so-"

"You like him." Kiyosumi smirked, showing flashy white teeth.

"I _do not_!" She threw her bread at his face, but was undoubtedly caught. Damn Kiyosumi and his crazy reflex.

"How cute. You're in denial." He smirked, taking a bite of the said bread. "You're actually considering the possibility of taking time off with me, your favorite person in the world, to take him racket-shopping." He sighed dreamily.

"I-." She paused. "I'm just a brilliant master-mind. You'll see; when Hao becomes a pro, he'll be thanking me for getting him into this."

"I doubt that." Kiyosumi waved the bread in the air, shrugging. "He has potential that's going somewhere, but I don't know about determination. He reminds me of someone; it's because he's naturally talented at it, he doesn't take the time to practice. You have to be talented and determined in order to be good."

"Maybe, but we're all different." She paused, cleaning up her breakfast. "And tennis is based on unpredictability, that's why it's so fun. Well, maybe you just like it because you get to see girls in mini-skirts bend over, but that's not the point."

"You insult me, dear Makki-chan." Kiyosumi placed a hand on his heart in solemn, reaching over to ruffle her hair. "But I still love you anyways, so I'll go shopping with you, since you're in such dire need of my presence."

"You loser!" This time, she aimed for his head.

- - - - -

"Yoh!" Macchi grinned, nearly attacking the boy. "I am ubberly in love with your shirt, where'd you get it!" She demanded, holding him back to get a better look of the Kimeru Shirt.

"Eh... Absolute Production (1)" Yoh smiled slight, pulling on the edge of the blue-shirt. "My mom kind of... Works there."

"Really!" She clapped her hands together, looking at Hao. "How come you never told me about it?"

The older twin shrugged, blue hoodie and jeans on, hair pulled up in a low-ponytail. "You never asked. Anyway, why did you bring your cousin along?" Sengoku only waved childishly in return.

"Oh, but I came along as well, Aniki." Yoh smiled, making their way through the shopping-streets.

"Speaking of which, I heard you got into the team." Sengoku grinned, poking at Hao's arm. "I suppose that I deserve thanks for my brilliant act of enlightenment; but that's okay, I'm a generous type of person."

"Gee..." Hao rubbed his arm numbly. "Thanks."

This continued as the group made their way down the sidewalks of the town-center, occasionally looking through a few window displays. Macchi had entered in a conversation with Yoh about various jpop singers, grinning happily.

Hao had made a mental note to never question Sengoku's sanity when they entered the giant sport central, pausing to look at the sight. The main hall was two stories high, and the high handle bars around the main-square could easily be seen.

"I think the tennis stuff is on the second floor." Macchi grinned, dragging the twins toward the escalator. Kiyosumi chuckled before following them through the crowds of people.

They managed to find Kanna, re-storaging the grip tapes, on the second floor. She groaned before setting the box aside, staring at her teammates. "You're early."

"No, we're not." Macchi smirked. "We can't be early, since I never told you exactly when we were dropping by."

"Fine." Came the annoyed reply.

"Gangster." Sengoku let out a suspicious cough.

Kanna narrowed her eyes, pointing toward the rackets hanging on the wall. "Anyways, when you're shopping for a tennis racket, there are major points to look out for." She picked up one of the rackets. "It has to have a good grip so it's easy to manhandle and whatever. The racket faces to neck ratio needs to be reasonable to the player, so you don't accidentally drop it or hit someone in the head."

Hao had wondered if half the stuff she said was even true, but he decided not to ask with the additional smile on Macchi's face.

"You need a good soft-grip." Kanna traced on the string-face of the racket. "The soft-shock rubber keeps the conducting shock of of the ball speed away from your elbow, so you don't get tendonitis or something."

During the wonderfully interesting narration, Hao had glazed around the shelves for the selection of rackets. He easily spotted a red racket on the bottom of the rack, lying out flatly. It had a black handle and yellow string-face, patterns titled on the sides into a flame. "I want that one." He pointed.

Kanna paused, turning her attention back to the said racket. "You have no sense what-so-ever. That's probably the worst racket we have in stock. The grip socks and the face are incapable to being used overtime."

"It's not that bad." Sengoku suggested, picking it up. "I mean, at least it looks cool, lucky for you."

"Looks are not everything." Kanna pointed out in a mature manner that astounded even herself. "I work here, so I'm supposed to warn the customer if it's not good for you."

"I want that one." Hao repeated, voice flat. End of discussion.

"Fine, whatever. Twists your arm for all I care." Kanna gave up, handing the said racket over. "You should pick up a soft-grip, though; it would go fine and help with returning balls. Next aisle."

"Fine." The older Asakura twin shrugged.

"We're here, let's split." Kevin declared, walking off before he was dragged back by Billy. He looked up, annoyed expression on his face. "What now?"

"We just need to pick something up before the movies." Billy hissed, lowering his face down. 

"So?" The blonde demanded.

"So I don't want it to seem like it's a date, that's why you have to come with us." Billy whispered back, taking a small look at the girl behind him, looking through the aisle. "Can't you stop being a brat for once and help?"

"I don't want to be a third-wheel." Kevin shrugged. "And I'm about to die of internal bleeding on my arm soon if you don't let go. I'm sure you wouldn't want Stephanie to think of you as violent."

"Fine." The older boy sighed, managing a half-glare at him. "You are a manipulative little prat."

"Thank you." Kevin waved it off, smirking at his former teammate.

"Billy?" Stephanie swirled around. "I can't find the grip tape; do you know where it is? Sorry, I'm kind of slow at finding stuff."

"Ah..." Billy froze, love-struck look on his face. He rushed foreword, immediately flipping through the sack of products on the shelves. "Grip tape... Grip tape... I'll find it."

Kevin smirked, walking up behind the girl. Stephanie giggled slightly, pulling on her hem of her dress. "I heard you made the girl's team, not bad."

The honey-blonde hair girl smiled. "Thank you, it's because Billy is such a wonderfully coach."

"Yeah." Kevin looked up. "You just keep on believing that."

Stephanie smiled again, pulling her hands behind her back. "Kevin, you really don't understand how sweet he is. You have such a good friend, so it's really not something for me to say." She paused, spotting something on the shelve behind Kevin. "Oh, look. There's the grip tape."

She leaned over, reaching for the wrapped package. A few inches before contact, her hand connected with someone else's. The girl looked up to see a raven-hair boy in front of her, reaching for the same thing. Both quickly drew their hand back.

"Sorry." Stephanie quickly added. "It's yours."

"Oh no!" The boy shook his hands in the air. "You have it." His accent sounded somewhat off, not exactly something she was used to yet. Kevin had suspicions that the boy looked a little familiar.

"No, no." Stephanie replied. "It's yours."

"No, you can have it."

"No, you have it, it's yours."

"No, you-"

"Enough." Hao happened to choose that moment to walk in between the two of them, snatching the grip tape out from the shelved before walking away. "I'll take it, then."

Macchi walked up behind, hands on her hip. "Can you be more rude?"

Hao pause, taking the time to consider the question. "Yes, I can." Stephanie was looking around the corner, blinking in confusion. Billy had froze from searching, staring at them. The skinny boy had stared, his headband falling halfway off. Kevin only watched the scene in amusement, leaning behind on the shelves.

"We have more of those in storage, you know." Kanna spoke up, arms folded.

"Come on, Makki-chan." Sengoku appeared with Yoh behind the shelves, rubbing his head. "Did you find it?" He noticed the others in front of them.

"..." The scene froze.

"HEY!" Kiyosumi and Billy burst out at the same time. "YOU'RE THAT GUY FROM THE JR. OPENINGS AND-"

"You played against Atobe and Sanada-"

"And you played against Bobby-"

Sengoku turned to look at Kevin, continuing the gasping routine. "Oh, you're the kid who kept on challenging Ochibi-kun!"

Macchi blinked. "You guys... Know each other?"

"Sengoku-senpai!" The skinny boy had yelled out, launching himself at the older redhead. Kiyosumi took a few seconds to realize that he was currently on the floor with a boy on top of him.

"Taichi!"

"_Sengoku-senapi! What are you doing here, desu? I didn't know you lived here and I thought that you were in collage, desu! And_-"

"Hello!" Macchi yelled out in exasperation. "Am I missing something here? Who are all you people!" She paused. "And why are you gloping my cousin!"

Dan Taichi flushed, quickly jumping off of the redhead. He started to splutter senselessly in Japanese. "_ah, Gomen-ne, desu. I didn't mean to do that, desu. It's just that I didn't know Sengoku-senpai lived here, and I haven't seen him since he went to collage, desu, and I-_"

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "You're in collage?"

"Long story." Sengoku shrugged. "Got accepted early, skipping my last year in high school."

"Cool." Billy grinned, lowering his hat. "Where are you now?"

"CAU."

"Oh, that where you're applying for as well, right?" Stephanie spoke up, clapping her hands together. Billy blushed before nodding slowly, Macchi now looked interested.

"Hey, have I seen you somewhere before?"

"Me?" Stephanie blinked.

"We go to the same school, Smart One." Kevin declared with hints of amusement in his voice. "And I think you're on the same team as Stephanie."

"Stephanie?" Macchi blinked. That name sounded awfully familiar.

"Stephanie." Kevin repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"_Stephanie_." Yoh nudged Macchi on her right arm. "Remember? Team list?"

"Oh." Macchi let out a quotable gasp, perhaps a little too loud. She pointed at Stephanie in a dramatic manner. "You're Stephanie Owen!"

The blonde nodded slowly, wondering what else there is to say.

"And as much as I care, I'd rather get on with my life." Hao declared, heading toward the nearest cash refinisher. "Later." Yoh had shrugged before following, earning confused looks from the other tennis players.

"Arg." Macchi groaned, turning toward Stephanie. "We'll talk later, but excuse me while I haunt his ass down."

Sengoku only smirked while watching his cousin run down the corners of the second floor, practically attacking the twins down the escalator while running towards at the cash registers. He didn't know when, but Kiyosumi found himself amazed by Macchi's agility.

"So." Billy spoke up. "Since you're in town and all, want to have a match?"

"Me?" The redhead blinked, pulling Taichi into a headlock. "I'm leaving tomorrow, but I can probably fit a match in. I don't have my tennis stuff, though."

"Why?" Taichi looked up at his old sempai.

"The retard lives two and a half hours away." Kana, who had been forgotten for the time being, explained. "He'd come back on long weekends or holidays. I think that's what Mach told me."

"How nice of you to memorize my profile." Sengoku snorted.

"Are trying to pick a fight?" Kanna declared, folding her arms together. "'Cause I can beat you anytime, anywhere. You name it the place, but I have to work right now."

"So, I'll see you on the courts in an hour."

- - - -

Hao had only been on the soccer team before, and the training schedule was much more different than tennis. The coach, Ms. Kat, was not too tough, but her training plan was a horror to face.

On Monday, Hao was introduced to the rest of the team. Some of the other members were new as well; over all, he made it through his first practice without being harassed by the girls. He spotted Taichi, the other new kid, in the crowds. He had paused to debate whether to talk to him or not, but decided against the idea.

On Tuesday, the boys practiced double techniques. Hao, being in the spot of Singles Three, had some free time to go roam the school with Chiaki, Single Two. The girls practiced on a different court by themselves, and Hao was fortunate enough not to walk into the fields when the track teams had a sprint session, Chiaki was not as fortunate after being run over by ten or so seniors.

On Wednesday, Ms. Kat declared that their first match of the year would be against Pocahontas High School on Friday. Hao momentarily wondered if they were good, but the question was shrugged by Chiaki. "Of course not. I mean, come on, their school is named after an Indian."

Manta has laughed. "But what if they're also as violent?"

"No need to worry." Magma smirked. "We have Nichrome, he can just scaring them off."

"I heard that." The said boy had somehow wandered into their circle, voice flat, ending the conversation.

Today, Hao was paired up with Senkun to do serving drills. Senkun Morris was a semi-quite flutiest, as Hao learned. The sophomore did not try to make pointless jokes, but would often laugh along with the crowd. Senkun also had a crazy serve, Hao observed. His serves practically smashed into the ground before rolling off.

"Thanks." Senkun smiled after Hao's off-hand compliment. "I suck at backhand, though."

"Doesn't everyone?" Hao smirked, leaning against the back-railing of the sidewalks. They were taking a water break in between the game.

"I guess." The green-hair boy paused, smiling slightly. "But you're really fast. I didn't think you could return some of my trick balls at first, but you did."

Hao shrugged it off. "Everyone has some sort of unique trait that follows their style. Mine just happens to be because I have nothing to give, so speed isn't really something to brag about."

Senkun frowned slowly, but didn't make a notion of disagreeing. "If you choose to believe that, then." Hao didn't understand why he liked talking to the boy, he was just dead quite. Sometimes Hao felt like Senkun always had something else to say, but never actually voice it out.

"You can stop dosing off now." A somewhat curt-voice cut in, and Hao found himself turning face-to-face against Nichrome. The other boy merely shrugged, gesturing toward the court. "Break is over, go back to practicing."

"Cage the rage." Chiaki smirked, giving him a soft pat on the back before heading back toward the courts. He grabbed Hao in the processes, dragging him along. "Come on, let's play a set."

They paused upon walking into the court; the girls had completely filled the place out.

"Hey!" Macchi grinned, sipping onto her water through a straw. She waved, jumping up from the fence. "What's up?"

"We were gonna practice. That is, before your girls overtook our court."

"Pfft." Macchi waved him aside. "We need to practice too! Besides, you can't hog the court all day. We're supposing to share, and it just happens your time's up."

"You don't seem worried about the up-coming match." Chiaki pointed out, crossing his arms.

The redhead blinked, frowning. "Should we be?"

"I don't know." Chiaki shrugged. "Are the girls this year good?"

"Eh." Macchi turned around as their glazes followed her sight onto the courts. The girls were warming up, hitting balls back and forth in a effortlessly smooth pattern. "Yeah, we're pretty good this year. None of us are _exceptional_ or anything, but we've all got the basics to kick ass. So I'm not worried."

Hao silently noticed Macchi's extra boost of confidence when it came to tennis. The girl was naturally loud and confident to begin with; however, when it came to tennis, she seemed to know exactly what she's doing.

It wasn't that Hao was surprised, he never assumed Macchi to be the clumsy kind in the beginning. But seeing her on the courts, playing tennis with such a carefree passion almost radiated a glow like no other.

Hao silently hoped that he wasn't crushing on the girl.

- - - - -

The older Asakura twin woke up early on Friday morning, grunting slightly before making his way into the bathroom to take a shower. Hao stepped out ten minutes later, running the towel along his hair. He blinked upon seeing Yoh in front of the mirror, messing with his tie. The younger twin's shirt was neatly zipped, half-way tied in.

"You!" Hao mock-gasped. "Who are you and what have you done with my messy little brother!"

"Relax." Yoh turned around, pulling his shirt-ends out again. "The acropolis is not coming."

"You could've fooled me." Hao smirked, seating himself down on his bed. He slipped his towel off from the nape of his neck, pulling his semi-wet, long locks into a messy ponytail.

"Well." Yoh yawned. "The exchange students are coming today, we have to go to the airport and pick them up. Apparently, Sati thought it wouldn't be appropriate if we didn't wear our uniforms the right way."

Hao nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"Oh, and Anna said she will beat me with a stick if I didn't listen to her."

The older twin shook his head. "I don't know why you put up with her, really."

"Isn't your match today?" Yoh blinked, condignly changing the conversation.

"Yeah." Hao shrugged, dropping himself backwards onto his pillow. "Singles three. I'm sure it's not that important, but they say that the other's school's pretty weak. We'll probably finish it before I even come on."

"Aw, but I wanted to see you play." Yoh pouted.

"I'm sure you have better things to do than that." The other boy laughed.

- - - -

Fuji Yuuta groaned, robbing his eyes. He frowned at the subtle pokes on his left arm, turning towards his left. "Hai?"

"_Yuuta-kun_." Mizuki Hajime smiled slowly, pointing towards the window on his left. "We're here."

"_I don't know how you slept through the landing_." Kisarazu Atsushi muttered, standing up to open the upper-compartments. He pulled out the carry-on backpack, swinging it halfway around his shoulder. "_I thought I was going deaf_."

"_Come on, Fuji-kun, Mizuki-kun_." Their fellow classmates smiled, nodding towards the line of people in the aisle, waiting to wander off the plane."

The St. Rudolph boys all had seats in the same row. It had been a long, enduring ride. The girls were too busy giggling over all the functions and in-flight-movies. Yuuta had found himself tired upon flight, eating very little before falling asleep.

He yawned once again before pulling his bag off the racks, following the string of people in line. He managed to exit the plane and into the airport half-awake.

"_Finally!_" One of the girls stretched. "_Fresh air! Look at this place! It's giant! And look at all the storage shops! I want to get something to eat_!"

"_Let's just find exit two first_." Mizuki declared as the rest nodded slowly. "_Now, according to the instructional film we saw before landing, Exit two should be on our left if we keep on walking after turing around the over-sea services_."

"_Problem is where are we now_?" Kisarazu pointed out. "_And where's our luggage_?"

The groups of Japanese students paused, gathering into a circle.

"_Let's ask for directions_." Hiwatari suggested, looking around. The rest of the passengers had already made their way after entering the airport; there were few people they knew here.

_"Let's find our pick-ups first. They probably know where to go after this_." Fuji replied, following their glaze around. "_But I have to use the restroom_."

"_Oh, I saw a sign when we were passing the other exit_." One of the girls smiled.

"_Let's go in groups_." Mizuki declared. "The last thing we need is to get lost here."

- - - - -

"Well, they should arrive out of that door over there." Sati spoke up, taking a seat.

"How long do we need to be here again?" Ying groaned, popping her Mp3 player out again.

"Awhile, I'm afraid." Sati replied, pulling out more paperwork from her bag. "Just get comfortable, we're excuse out of school work for now, but that doesn't mean we are exempt of make-up work."

"Um… Sati?" Yoh spoke up slowly, nodding towards the direction of the restroom. "I think I just found them."

There, stood a group of students in St. Rudolph uniform, looking around with somewhat of bored expressions on face.

- - - - -

"Well, we're here." Yoh smiled, stepping out of the car. He slide the door closed with ease; waiting for the other boys of climb out before hitting the automatic "lock" button.

"Oh." Mizuki looked up at the three-floor house. The path leading towards the seemingly large mansion. The path leading towards the porch was covered with fields of luscious green.

"Come on." Yoh grinned, pushing through the gate of the front yard. He gave them a soft wave before making his way through the pavement. Kisarazu shrugged at Mizuki before following him.

Yoh grinned at them, pushing the door open before pulling his keys out. The door cracked open, revealing the halls leading to the living room. "Well, don't stare all day." He grinned.

"Wow." Mizuki muttered, pulling onto his bag and stepping from the porch.

"Oh, you're home." Beth was halfway out of the kitchen, drying her hands on her apron. "Your brother brought a bunch of his friends home; they're in the entertainment room. What do you want for dinner?"

Yoh turned to the guest. "What do you guys want?"

The Japanese students blinked. "Eh..."

"Never mind." Beth laughed. "I'll just order pizza since the tennis team's still here."

"Awesome." Yoh grinned, heading towards the stair. "Well, come on. Leave your stuff in the trunk; I'll get them later, 'kay?" The boys nodded, following him up the wide, swirling staircase onto the second floor.

Yoh pointed at the halls. "This is where most of the bedrooms and bathrooms are. Yeah, and mine and Aniki's room are here too."

"Aniki?" Mizuki blinked, trying to speak more fluently without the accents. "You have a brother?"

"A twin." Yoh grinned, leading them onto the third floor. "He didn't go with us because he goes to another school. I think his tennis team are up there, they just won their first game of the season."

The other boys immediately lightened from the previous awkward state. "Tennis?"

"Yep." Yoh nodded before pushing the door to the first room on the left, Kisarazu and Mizuki followed. The room was relevantly big, the walls were blue, and two beds were pushed up to either side of the wall. Two or three windows illuminated the setting sun. "And this is your room."

Kisarazu and Mizuki stared in aw.

"Sorry we couldn't get you individual rooms and all." Yoh grinned, untying his tie in the process. "But the last open room was turned into an art studio a few months ago."

"It is big." Mizuki quickly regained his posture, smiling.

"Cool." Yoh grinned, nodding towards the door where the music was coming from. "Just dump your stuff on the bed and I'll introduce you to Hao."

- - - - -

"Stop changing the channels!" Kanna snatched the remote control from Redseb. "I was watching that!"

"Pfff." Redseb ignored her for the time being, deciding to join Manta and Taichi's virtual tennis court. 

Seyram scooted next to Mari as the girls focused on the current tennis game on TV. "Wow, did you just see that?"

"Crazy move." Kanna nodded, grabbing another cookie out from the box Beth had brought up later.

"Ha! Eat that!" Zira slapped her cards down on the floor. HaiRuwo groaned, Rap signed, Lip blinked, and Mannoko dumped her cards into her lap.

"This is useless!" Pilica decided. "You're cheating! You have to be cheating! There's no way you can win seven times in a role! Arg!"

"Sorry." Zira smirked. "Nothing up my sleeves except for skill!"

"Hey." Chiaki grinned at the girls, sipping from his can of coke. "Be happy that this isn't strip poker, okay!"

"Why?" Zira looked up from her seated position, reshuffling the cards again. "Afraid of showing some skin because we know you'll lose to me?"

"Oh." The boy look amused. "You did not just challenge me to poker."

"I believe she just did." Lip and Rap chorused.

"You're so on." Chiaki sat down as the girls made room. "Ladies, get those ready to be blown again because I am good."

Macchi looked up as the door opened. Yoh flinched from the noise, blinking. "What in the world are you all listening to!"

The room fell silent, pausing. Even Chiaki stopped from pulling cards out of his hood. Everyone's attention adverted from the younger twin and onto Hao, then back onto Yoh. Brains composed, questioned, and clicked. 

"What!" Macchi yelled through the heavy metal. 

Nichrome was the first to make it towards the stereo, blasting the music off before turning to face the situation. Hao shrugged from inserting a DVD in. Before anyone could ask, "no, I don't have a clone."

"That's odd." Chiaki deduced. "He looks like him and appear like him, he even-"

Kanna leaned off the couch to whack the boy in the head. "Dude... They're twins."

"Yeah um." Yoh stepped aside, nodded towards the two new comers. "Kisarazu-kun and Mizuki-kun, right? They're the foreign exchange students I'm in charge of, so they'll be staying here and... Yeah. That's about it."

The tennis team stared at them.

"And the pizza Beth ordered came in." Yoh added, pulling out a few stacked boxes from behind the door.

"YOH! My man!" The room suddenly greeted him happily, embracing the new coming pizza.

**TBC**—

Ignore the horrible uncreative ending. I just wanted to finish this chapter so I could move on. I originally planned it to be more creative than just this; hopefully, I'll use that in the upcoming chapters.

Absolute Production is a entertainment company in Japan that sponsored Kimeru, one of my favorite j-pop singer of all times. This will come in handy later when Asakura Keiko makes her entrance.

For anyone who's interested, my updating schedule is posted on my user information page.


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